UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING
CAMPUS

A Project Proposal On

Combined Maize Peeler and Thresher Machine

Prepared By

SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE

DEGREE OF BACHELOR IN INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING

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 COPYRIGHT

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the author has agreed that permission for extensive copying of this project report for

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Engineering in any case of the material of this project report. Copying or publication or

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Request for permission to copy or to make any other use of the material in this report

in whole or in part should be addressed to:

Head of Department

Department of Industrial Engineering

Campus, Institute of Engineering

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 ABSTRACT

We all know Nepal is an agriculture country where more than eighty percentage of the
total population are involved in agriculture. In such nation agriculture must be
supported by technology in order to increase the outcome rate. Every field of the
agriculture must be enhanced by the use of proper technical tools and machines. The
ones involved in agriculture need machines and technical tools to increase their
contribution to the field. A farmer with the proper technical tools and the required
machines can be very beneficial for an agricultural nation like Nepal.

So, to address the above technical needs of the farmers we are going to design and
fabricate a “Combined Maize de husker and thresher”. This machine works on the
combine principle of de husking and threshing, firstly peeling the maize and the
detaching the grains from the cobs of the maize. Also it provides grains, cobs and peels
of the maize separately from different ends. This can be used by the farmer related with
the maize farming who need to detach the grains from the shell in large amount.
Although it has many limitations like unequal husking and continuous monitoring
required but meets the need of farmer in many areas.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Copyright .......................................................................................................................ii

Abstract .........................................................................................................................iii

Table Of Contents ......................................................................................................... iv

List Of Figures .............................................................................................................. vi

List Of Tables ..............................................................................................................vii

Chapter One: Introduction ............................................................................................. 1

1.1 Background of the study: ............................................................................... 1

1.2 Problem Statement ......................................................................................... 2

1.3 Objectives ...................................................................................................... 2

1.3.1 General Objectives ..................................................................................... 2

1.3.2 Specific Objectives .................................................................................... 2

1.4 Significance of Research................................................................................ 3

1.5 Limitations of study ....................................................................................... 3

Chapter Two: Literature Review ................................................................................... 4

2.1 Study of Literature ......................................................................................... 4

2.2 Research Gap ................................................................................................. 7

chapter three: Research and Methodology..................................................................... 8

3.1 Literature Review........................................................................................... 8

3.2 Data Collection and design ............................................................................ 8

Chapter Four: Technical Description and Analysis ..................................................... 11

4.1 The major parts and components ................................................................. 11

4.2 The Working principle of the combined maize peeler and thresher ............ 11

Chapter Five: Cost Estimation and Scheduling ........................................................... 13

5.1 Cost Estimation: ........................................................................................... 13

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 5.2 Gantt Chart: .................................................................................................. 14

Chapter Six: Conclusion .............................................................................................. 16

References .................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

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 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1:Outside frame design ....................................................................................... 9

Figure 2:Threshing Part Design ..................................................................................... 9

Figure 3: Husker Part Design ....................................................................................... 10

Figure 4: Machine available in BTL Trade Pvt. Ltd. ................................................... 10

Figure 5: Gantt Chart ................................................................................................... 14

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 LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Cost Estimation.............................................................................................. 13

Table 2:Project Schedule ............................................................................................. 15

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 CHAPTER ONE:
INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study:

Although new agricultural technologies helped increase food production, there still was
room for further growth. Past experience indicated bottlenecks, however, in using
modern technology to achieve a healthy growth. The conflicting goals of producing
cash crops both for food and for industrial inputs also were problematic.

Farming to feed families is becoming increasingly difficult, time consuming and labor
intensive in village communities. With difficulty in obtaining and carrying equipment’s
to the field, farmers are reliant on using traditional hand equipment which is laborious
and time consuming. To help overcome this problem, we want to introduce a
“Combined Maize Husker and Sheller Machine”. The machine uses electric motor for
maize husking and shelling.

Maize is becoming the third major crop of the country after rice and wheat. De-husking
and shelling of the maize are done by hands with traditional ways. To provide with
options for small and hill farmers, a hand operated maize De-husker and Sheller has
been designed, developed, fabricated and evaluated. Farmers could easily operate the
machine with greater efficiency.

There has been some success in the field of agriculture with the production of staples
like rice corn in the past years with the fertility of land in the Terai region and
hardworking individuals in the mountain and hills. The pace of which the production is
going is not enough to meet the demands of the population. The country is heavily
dependent on imports for its food demand. The farmers need to use modern technology
in order to produce more crops to fulfill the demand. This combined maize peeler and
thresher machine provides greater relief for the farmer for increasing productivity by
reducing lead times.

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1.2 Problem Statement

The agricultural industry is going at a fast pace around the world but Nepal seems to be
left behind in the advancement. Nepal is an agricultural country but the people are still
dependent on traditional methods for their agricultural occupations. The advancement
of technology has not reached in the mountainous and hilly rural areas which has
resulted in stagnated production of crops. One of the main reasons of stagnated
production is using unconventional methods of maize husking and shelling which is
time consuming and tedious.

Thus, by introduction of this machine, we want to solve the task of maize husking and
shelling operations. The farmers need to move from traditional tools to the modern tools
to gain maximum productivity with economical less time consuming way.

1.3 Objectives

1.3.1 General Objectives

The general objective of our project is to understand the possible ways of designing and
fabricating “Combined Maize Peeler and Thresher Machine”

1.3.2 Specific Objectives

The specific objectives were to build up the knowledge on the following and maintain
such in the machine.

To ease the maize peeling/husking procedures.

To ease the maize threshing/shelling operations.

To decrease time for both operations.

To combine peeling and threshing in one machine.

To test the model in the real time for accurate results.

To make this prototype a stepping stone for agricultural technology and evolution in
villages.

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1.4 Significance of Research

Combined Maize Peeler and Thresher Machine will be very easy to use and saves a lot
of time on the field. Learning how to use this machine proved productive and efficient.
This will help people be familiar with new technology and increased the productivity.
With the increased yield and productivity, the quality of life of people will increase and
people will greatly save their time. Since, maize is one of the highest production crop
of our country, so this will greatly help the rural people who are directly involved with
it.

1.5 Limitations of study

Due to budget and time constraints, the project will only be a prototype and design can
be used for mass production. The availability of a raw material required to make the
prototype will also be a concern due to limited budget. Similarly, the whole machine
will be fabricated based upon the students’ skills and time constraints.

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 CHAPTER TWO:
LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Study of Literature

Maize threshing/shelling is a post-harvest operation, is the removal of the maize seeds

from the cob followed by husking operations. These operations can be carried out in
the field or at the storage environment. Maize husking and shelling, therefore is an
important step towards the processing of maize to its various finished products like
flour. The different methods of maize husking and shelling can be categorized based on
various mechanization technology used. This includes: hand tool technology, animal
technology and engine powered technology. Hand technology involves the use of hand
tools in husking and shelling, while as observed animals were used in threshing on the
field by marching on the maize. Engine powered technology involves the use of
mechanical assistance in husking and threshing the maize. To facilitate speedy husking
and shelling of maize in order to reduce post-harvest deterioration, mechanical husker
and thresher are recommended, because hand operations cannot support the
commercialized selling.

An average moisture of 15% to !8% for maize can be threshed was reported by previous
design. Moisture content seriously affect the husking and thresh-ability of maize. And
other factor that affect the thresh-ability of maize in a mechanized system is the size of
the maize cob. The mechanical husker and thresher need to be adjusted to the various
sizes of cobs. According to Indian Agricultural Research on Maize, the cob ranges from
50mm to 85mm depending upon variety. There are also engineering design factor that
affect the design of mechanical husker and thresher. These factors are the design of
powered transmission shaft, selections of prime mover, type of pulley, appropriate belt
design, key and selection of appropriate bearing support.

In view of the objectives of the present investigation, it was necessary to review the
literature on the methods that were used in the past as well as that are presently in used
for shelling of maize. Various researcher had given their review on husker and thresher
operations. Some of the review on the sheller and husker are given as below:

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Sakun (1963) used wire loop cylinders in place of rasp bar and found that the use of
wore loop cylinders resulted in better threshing performance than using rasp bar
cylinders in threshing of corns.

Mahmoud and Buchele (1975) found that,ear axis parallel to cylinder axis orientations
suffered the least damage at all moisture content levels tested, followed by ears fed
randomly to the cylinder. The highest damage was suffered by ear fed with their axis
perpendicular to the cylinder. The minimum damage for all orientations was at 20 to 22
% moisture content. They found that the corn kernel damage increased with an increase
in moisture content and cylinder velocity.

Hamid(1980) reported about a laboratory corn thresher which was designed,

constructed and tested to evaluate its ability to shell corn with little kernel damage. The
thresher consisted of three inclined rollers rotating in the same directions but at different
speeds. The ears were fed axially between the rollers through a guide. Damage and
breakage tendency comparison at 18% kernel moisture content showed that the
experimental thresher behave more like hand shelling than like a combined thresher
cylinder. The corn shelled by the experiment thresher had significantly less damage
than the corn shelled by the combined cylinder.

Harring Tom (1980) has designed a multi crop thresher with spike tooth cylinder and
inverted bar type closed concave. He had stated that spike tooth concave help to break
up bunches better for more complete threshing and separation whereas known machine
spike tooth concave was only pratical in the inverted position, where gravity provided
continuous self-cleaning.

Annon (1986) reported that power operated maize de-husker thresher was developed at
tnau, Coimbatore for removing the outer shell and for shelling the maize cobs
simultaneously. The machine had lugs (square solid blocks) on de-husker thresher
cylinder with louvers(helically) at start and end of cylinder.

Manibog-et al (1991) conducted studies to improve the mobile maize thresher in terms
of shelling efficiency, recovery and product quality. The installation of baffles and rasps
in the shelling cylinder increase the shelling recovery and the applications of suction
air to separate light impurities from the shelled grains made the cleaning system of the
machine more efficient. Comparative evaluation with existing sheller revealed that the
improved machine obtained the highest efficiency of 97.11%, lowest mean unshelled

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loss an impurity of 0.14% and 0.79% respectively, when shelling maize with moisture
content of 22%- 35%.

Mudgal (1998) have reported about the development of hand operated maize de-husker,
pedal operated maize de-husker, pedal operated maize husker cum- sheller, power
operated dehusker and power operated maize dehusker- sheller at MPUAT, Udaipur.
Dehusker unit was made using a pair of rubber and spirally welded MS rod on steel
rollers. Some serrated baldes were used length wise to facilitated the dehusking. A
combined unit for dehusking – shelling in one cylinder was tried by using half of
cylinder length with rasp bars and the other with rubber strips in octagonal cylinder to
act as dehusker and sheller, respectively.

Many researches had concluded that the variations of cylinder peripheral speed,
effective concave clearance, and fan speed were the major machine variables that could
influence threshing perforamance (Singh and Singh, 1981; Joshi, 1981; Ghaly , 1985
and Behera, 1990). The fundamental and influencing environmental processing
conditions with direct bearing on the effective perforamcne of the threshing system are
moisture content and feed rate ( Olaoye, 2004). These are extrinsic factors and they are
established on the plant or machine variables through the interactions of the effect of
the environment, crop characteristics and machine variables.

Different machines used for maize dehusking and shelling were as follow:

Power operated maize dehusker

Power operated maize sheller

Pedal operated maize dehusker

Hand operated maize sheller

Pedal operated maize dehusker cum- sheller

Pedal operated maize dehusker sheller(single cylinder)

Conventional practice of maize dehusking and shelling.

On the basis of performance of each machine different combinations for maize

dehusking and shelling were suggested for the small and marginal farm holdings. It was
found that the pedal operated maize dehusker sheller( single cylinder) was best suited
for small and marginal farmers having total area of 10 hectars and production of less

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than 300 quintal of maize cobs.The power operated machines were found to sutiable
for large farmers having total areas of more than 30 hectar and annual production of
more than 1000 quintal.

2.2 Research Gap

1. The project will be limited to husking and shelling in small quantity as a

demonstration.

2. Due to budget constraints, further research in development and improvement of

machine could not be studied.

3. The project might not meet desired standard due to gap in our technical skills.

4. The project is just a prototype not advanced form of machine.

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 CHAPTER THREE:
RESEARCH AND METHODOLOGY

3.1 Literature Review

The combined operation of peeling and threshing of maize is popular with large
machines. Those machines are adopted in industrial use. In context of Nepal, the
farmers has been following the traditional way of the operation i.e. by hands. This way
certainly is not efficient plus is very tedious. The machines for peeling and threshing
act are available in one machine per one operation or as the BTL trader are providing
the machine of combined operation. The machine said to be imported from China
however, the operation still is not found to be combined as the machine does only one
operation at a time and only benefit is they come in same machine.

3.2 Data Collection and design

Primary data: The research involved for the project were about present type of machine
available in the Nepalese market. The BTL trade center of agriculture machines was
visited for the available machines. Some market shops located at Teku, Kathmandu for
the necessary parts and components of the machine were visited for instance Reliable
Bearing center, Macto Spares Concern.

Secondary data: Initially the idea for the project of combined peeling and threshing
machine were found in online website mostly Youtube.com. The options for different
ways of peeling ad threshing were learnt from websites. The working of these
mechanism were visually watched in online in internet. The working of power
transmission, pulley and belt way of power transmission were learnt in book on Design
of Machine Elements.

The preliminary designs prepared for the machines as well as some photos of the
available machines in Nepal are presented below:

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Figure 1:Outside Frame Design

Figure 2:Threshing Part Design

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 Figure 3: Husker Part Design

Figure 4: Machine available in BTL Trade Pvt. Ltd.

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 CHAPTER FOUR:
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

4.1 The major parts and components

The Combined Maize Husker and Thresher constitute of the following major parts:

a) The Peeling Parts:

Iron Shafts Roller
Rubber Shafts Roller
Gears and Bearings
Spring-based Constant Contactor
b) The Threshing Parts:
Iron Rods/disc/springs
Bearings
c) The combined transmission:
Pulleys and Belts

4.2 The Working principle of the combined maize peeler and thresher

A. The Peeling action:

The first step in the machine involves the peeling actions. This action constitutes
the act of taking out the husk of the dried maize as well as the hair-like strips.
The dried maize is input through the silo which gives the path to the peeling
roller. The rollers are of two types: one is the iron shaft with rods helically
attached to it, and another is the rubber type.
One of the iron shaft roller is driven by a pulley, other one is connected with
gear and the two roller of rubber situated at extreme rotate due to contact with
the iron shaft. The peeling action is done in combination by the iron and rubber
shaft. The contact between iron and rubber shaft is mainly due to the attached
rods in helices. And when the maize fall on these rotating roller, the husks are
pulled inside by the roller: iron and rubber. The maize goes along the shaft being
peeled off the husk. This naked maize then gets collected in a container like
structure ready to move to threshing part.
B. The threshing action:

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 As the name suggests this action refers to beat the naked maize such that the
maize grain come out by detaching action. Here this action is simply the
threshing of the machine. The maize are mechanically beat, hit and shredded.
This action is done by the rotating threshing rods. The naked maize are engaged
into the compartment of this thresher where they get threshed and the grains
come out and escape out of holes in the enclosure which enclose the threshing
part. The left maize core exit out of bigger hole located at the end opposite to
the entry of naked maize.
C. The combined action:
The combine operation take place in the single machine. The peeling operation
is located above the threshing operation. The input is dried maize whereas the
outputs are three fold namely the husk and hair like structure, the maize grain,
and the core of maize. This combined action is to be done by the simultaneous
transmission of rotation to both the peeling roller and threshing rods from a
motor by the use of pulley. The pulley of rollers could be joined to the motor
and this pulley can be connected to threshing rods too. The point to consider is
that the chosen threshing or peeling action should not be made lot basis, the
maize is to be flowed continuously for the achievement of combined operation.

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 CHAPTER FIVE:
COST ESTIMATION AND SCHEDULING

5.1 Cost Estimation:

The following table lists the current available rates of the different parts of the machine,
it also includes quantity and consecutive price of the components and the grand total
simply for the machine part exclusive of process expenses.

Table 1: Cost Estimation

S.N Particular Quantity Rate Price

1. Bearing 11 200 2200

2. Electric Motor (3 HP) 1 10000 10000

3. G.I.Sheet (4ft*8ft*0.8mm) 1 4000 4000

4. M.S. angle 2 1000 2000

5. Pulley (6”) 2 600 1200

6. Pulley (4”) 1 400 400

7. Pulley (3”) 1 300 300

8. Gear 2 300 600

9. V- Belt (B82) 2 300 600

10. V- Belt (B52) 2 250 250

11. V-Belt (B36) 1 200 200

12. Shaft 20 kg. 100 2000

13. Rubber 5 ft. 1000 1000

14. Miscellaneous 1 5000 5000

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 Total Rs. 30000

5.2 Gantt Chart:

The Project has the time limit of one semester of education i.e. around 5-6 months. It is
to be completed within this period of time.

The following Gantt Chart provides the schedule detail of the project operation:

Figure 5: Gantt Chart

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 Table 2:Project Schedule
End
Task Activity Start Date Duration(Days) Date
Task 1 Idea Generation 24-Jun 11 4-Jul
11-
Task 2 Screening of Ideas and Problems Study 5-Jul 7 Jul
17-
Task 3 Shop Visit 12-Jul 6 Jul
30-
Task 4 Feasibility Study 18-Jul 13 Jul
2-
Task 5 Project Proposal Documentation 31-Jul 3 Aug
11-
Task 6 Design and Study 1-Dec 11 Dec
17-
Task 7 Selection of Operations 12-Dec 6 Dec
6-
Task 8 Collection of Machine Parts 18-Dec 20 Jan
14-
Task 9 Recalculation of Design of Machine Elements 7-Jan 8 Jan
15-
Task 10 Fabrication and Assembly 15-Jan 32 Feb
18-
Task 11 Machine Test 16-Feb 3 Feb
1-
Task 12 Final Report Preparation 19-Feb 11 Mar

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 CHAPTER SIX:
CONCLUSION

The project is to develop a machine that simultaneously does the both operation of
peeling and threshing of maize. The machine would be able to help the user in saving
their time and making the hideous process of maize peeling and threshing very simple
in one single step. Although the machine would not be able to grind the maize seed but
separates the maize seed and provide them without the unwanted particles. This
machine also eliminates the separating job of maize seeds from the shells as the machine
delivers the maize seeds from end and the shells from the other end. The machine also
separates the maize covers and it could be collected at other end which minimizes the
work of gathering them.

As we are going to use the materials from the scarps and the leftover from the labs our
overall costing is going to be on a lower price. These kind of machines are available in
the market but in higher price and those perform in very large scale. Our machine would
be beneficial for smaller range and could be afforded by the smallest unit of the users.

The machine is also smaller in size and consumes very little space. This machine can
be installed anywhere and can be operated. This features eliminates the space problem
for the users.

Also this machine uses the motor of only 3 HP, it is more economical while operating
than other bulky machines of these kinds. Due to this feature it can be operated within
household criteria.

This way the machine is found to be time saving, simple, economical and affordable
for every group of users.

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 REFERENCES

DESIGN OF A MODIFIED HAND OPERATED MAIZE. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://ebe.uonbi.ac.ke/sites/default/files/cae/engineering/ebe/project%20ppt.pd
f

Taylor & Francis Group. (2018). Design and fabrication of an improved maize shelling
machine. Retrieved from Taylor & Francis Online: DESIGN OF A MODIFIED
HAND OPERATED MAIZE

University, I. S. (1978). Design and performance of low damage corn. Retrieved from
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7476&context=rtd

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