Abstract:
Threshing is the removal of stalks and husks from the seeds, which can be done either
traditionally or mechanically. One of the mechanical types is the Melkassa multi -crop
thresher. When using it, the feeding process is labor intensive, high drudgery and
stress on the labor during biomass feed.The aim of this study was to develop a feed
conveyor and test the performance of the Melkasa multi -thresher machine at
Melkassa. The feed conveyor consists of a supporting frame, bearings, rotating belts,
pulleys, a side cover, a lower hopper, and V-belts. Split plot design with main plot,
conveyor slope, and subplot is the conveyor speed is used to examine the influence of
conveyor on maize sheller. The randomized complete design is used to know the effect
of feeding two treatments. These are feeding without conveyor and with conveyor to
analyze the economic cost of the machine. Performance evaluation in terms of the
threshing capacity, efficiency, seed breakage, fuel consumption, and labor
requirement. The tests were carried out four times, and test materials weighing 200
kg of biomass were used for each treatment. The tests were carried out on a Melkassa
maize sheller, with maize (variety: Melkasa-II) and multi -crop threshing with
sorghum (variety: Melkam) being the test crops. The maize crop had a moisture
content of 12.3 percent, while the sorghum was at 12.5%. The maximum shelling
capacity of shellers is 7500.8 kg/hr at conveyor speed 400 rpm and slope 20
0
and the
minimum shelling is 6440.9 kg/hr at conveyor speed 300 rpm and slope 30
0
. To
analysis economic cost of conveyor using conveyor and without conveyor the sheller
and thresher performance was evaluated. The capacity of the sheller is 7518 kg per
hour, with a fuel consumption of 2.685 liters per hour when feedi ng with a conveyor,
and 6248 kg per hour and 2.0678 liters per hour without conveyor feeding. For multi crop threshing feeding with a conveyor for the sorghum variety, the threshing
capacity was 1838.49 kg/hr, and fuel consumption was 1.575 liters per hour without
conveyor feed and 1290.47 kg/hr and 1.1575 liters per hour with manual feed. During
shelling operations, the seed breakage is fed to the conveyors at 0.21% and 0.22%
without conveyor feed. For multi-crop threshing the seed breakage is 0.18% with a
conveyor and 0.19% without conveyor on sorghum. Using a feed conveyor can
increase threshing capacity, reduce drudgery, save time and energy, reduce risk, and
is the best way to feed the harvested crop.
Key words: Design, Development, Feed Conveyor, Performance evaluation