Design and Fabrication of Groundnut Shelling Machine

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2015 in the subject Engineering - Mechanical Engineering, language: English, abstract: Groundnut product demand is on the increase and the application is largely dependent on the cleanness of the nuts. The separation process is usually an energy-sapping task that requires a lot of time. In order to separate the nuts from its shell effectively a shelling machine was developed. The machine employs an auger screw as a means of breaking the groundnut pod. The machine basically comprises of shelling chamber, separating chamber and a motor (1HP). The arrangement of these parts is connected by a compound belt of type B standard V-belt of pitch length 1694mm. With the Von-mises equation, the material for the shelling shaft is taken to be mild steel. The materials used in the fabrication of the machine are sourced locally so as to ensure that it is cheap, affordable and easily maintained by the peasant farmers. The shelling efficiency and material damage are 84% and 14% respectively for groundnut seeds of 86.5% dry.