Design and Fabrication of a Maize Shelling Machine

Abstract

Maize (Zea mays) is an important cereal crop that had contributed greatly into the development of the world agricultural economy. Farmers use the traditional methods, due to inaccessibility of suitable machinery for maize shelling. The time required to shell maize from traditional method is more which in turn results in increased cost of production. This research work focuses on solving the problem faced by the farmers in separating the maize cobs from its kernel. The maize shelling unit operates on the principle of impact force. The cylinder is made up of 2 mm thick mild steel of size 200 mm diameter and length 660 mm. Several beaters was attached to the cylinder which rotates along the cylinder and helped in the separation of grains from the cobs. It was observed that the maize shelling machine shelled maize at an average shelling efficiency and cob outlet loss of 89.3 % and 10.7 % respectively at 13 % wb moisture content and minimal grain damage of 2.45% with an average shelling capacity of 108.57kg/h at a rotational speed of 600 rpm. The machine shells 17 times as fast as hand shelling. The blower shaft rotates at a speed of 1400 rpm to allow for maximum cleaning efficiency of the shelled maize.