CHAPTER ONE

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Finger millet is a grain that is planted by farmers and it is highly nutritious,

it is planted during raining season, it grows like rice and the straws are
covered by panicles.

The panicle holds the seed very tight and in early December, the finger
millet is harvested by cutting its straws from the stems and taken for
threshing.

Threshing is usually done manually by hitting it with sticks on a flat floor.

Trampoline on the flat ground where women and youths uses sticks to hit
it until the panicles (chaff) is dehusk from the seeds. In most cases the
process is very difficult because of the hardness of the panicles to the seed,
hereby giving fatigue to the people threshing it.

After it has been threshed women use manual winnowers to remove the
chaff from the seed. This process makes the work very difficult and
discourages the production of the crop.

Finger millet in nature grows on straws. Panicles (chaff) hold the seed
tightly, similar to the Acha crop, and for this reason it makes threshing
very difficult. Youths and women team up to hit the millet sticks which is
fatiguing to the people threshing. After threshing women employ the use
of a winnower to separate the chaff from the seeds. When there is not
enough wind blowing they have to wait for the winds which delay the
work.

1
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

There are machines that thresh crops such as Maize, Rice and Guinea corn,
but not for millet. There is therefore a need to improvise a machine that
will thresh finger millet. With the study done on similar ideas derive from
the other machines, the idea can be used to develop the finger millet
threshing machine.

1.3 SCOPE OF STUDY.

Finger millet is a difficult grain to process because of the straw and

panicles that holds the seed tight and make it difficult to process (thresh)
manually and time wasting.

Therefore the finger millet threshing machine is constructed to reduce the

use of human labour and to increase the rate of production thereby
encouraging farmers to increase production of the crop.

The machine will be simply made from available steel materials form into
various components such as the hopper, threshing chamber, the blower and
the discharge outlet and the prime mover all assembled together.

The limitation of the machine is constructed mainly for finger millet but
can also be used to thresh guinea corn and millet. In the case of guinea and
millet, the size of the sieve can be changed to suit or to accommodate the
grain size.

2
1.4 JUSTIFICATION OF THE PROJECT.

The justification is to safe the production of finger millet by using the

problems of farmers that produce the crop; hence the productions
satisfactory it will create job opportunity for technicians at our level by
getting involved in mass production on the product.

1.5 AIM AND OBJECTIVE

AIMS:-

The aim of this project is to construct and test a finger millet threshing
machine.

OBJECTIVE:-

i. To construct
ii. To select materials
iii. To test

3
1.6 DEFINITION OF TERMS

g .......................................... Acceleration due to gravity

Kg ........................................ Mass of substance

mm ......................................... Measurement of length

M ........................................ Larger measurement of length

P ........................................ Pressure N/mm2

F ....................................... Force N

SYMBOL UNIT DESCRIPTION

Mb Nm Max Bending Moment

Mt Nm Max Tensional moment

Ss N/M2 Shear Stress(allow)

Α Rad/sec Angular velocity

R M Radius

M Kg or kg/m3 Mass

D1 Mm Diameter of small end

D2 Mm Diameter of big end

C Conversion factor

N Rev/min Speed

Hp kW Horse power

4
Sd Mm Shaft Diameter

Pr Rev/cm3 Rate of production

η % Efficiency of machine

5
 CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 THRESHING
Threshing is the process of separating the edible part of cereal grain (or
other crop) from the scaly edible chaff that surrounds it. It is the step in
grain preparation after harvesting and before winnowing, which separates
the chaff from the grain. Threshing can be done by beating the grain using
a stick on threshing floor. Threshing floor are of two main types namely;
specially flattened outdoor surface and inside building with a smooth floor
of earth. Threshing is one of the most important crop processing
operations use to separate grains from the ear heads or the plants and to
prepare it for the market.
Abo El-Naga, M.H.M., El-Gendy, H.A. and Mosa, E.H. (2015).
Evaluation of locally threshing machine per- formance for threshing
lentil crop. Misr Journal of Ag- ricultural Engineering , 22(2): 376-388.
Ajav, E.A. and Adejumo, B.A. (2005). Performance evalua- tion of an
Okra thresher. Agricultural Engineering In- ternational: the CIGR
Ejournal. Manuscript PM 04006, Vol. VII, October.
A number of small, medium, and large threshers have been in existence
for quite a long time, but due to low or poor performance in comparison
with the traditional methods, they have not been adopted to a significant
extent. Some are hand-held threshers and pedal operated ones.
Kamble, H.G., Srivastava, A.P. and Panwar, J.S. (2003). Development
and evaluation of a pearl millet thresher. Journal of Agricultural
Engineering , 40(1): 18-25.

6
Kushwaha, H.L., Srivastava, A.P. and Singh, H. (2005). Development
and performance evaluation of Okra seed extractor. International
Commission of Agricultural Engineering , 7: 1-13.
Nath, A. and Chattopadhyay, P.K. (2007). Optimization of oven toasting
for improving crispness and other quality attributes of ready to eat
potato-soy snack using re- sponse surface methodology. Journal of Food
Engi- neering , 80: 1282 – 1292.

2.2 THRESHING MACHINE

Threshing machine is a device used for thrashing. Two main types of
stationary threshing machines have been developed. The machine of
Western design is known as “through-flow” thresher, because stalks and
ears pass through the machine. It consists of a threshing device with pegs,
teeth or loops, and (in more complex models) a cleaning-winnowing
mechanism based shakers, sieves and centrifugal fan. In 1970 developed
an axial flow thresher, which has been widely manufactured at local level.
Odigboh, E.U. 2004. Mechanization for enhanced agricultural
productivity in Nige- ria. Proceedings of Valedictory seminar.
Department of Agricultural and Biore- sources Engineering . University
of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Ogunlowo, A.S., Adesuyi, S.A. 1999. A low cost rice cleaning and
destoning ma- chine. Agricultural mechanization in Asia, Af- rica and
Latin America, 30(1): 20-24.
Picket, L.K., West, N.L. 1988. Agricul- tural machinery- functional
elements- threshing, separating and cleaning. In CRC handbook of
Engineering in Agriculture. Vol 1 Eds. Brown R H. CRC Press. Florida
USA P. 65-85.

7
Singhal, O.P., Thierstein, G.E. 1987. De- velopment of an axial flow
thresher with
multi-crop potential. Agricultural Mechaniza- tion in Asia, Africa and
Latin America, 18(3): 57-65
The thresher has an open axial flow peg tooth threshing drum; a throw-in
feed opening and straw throwing pedals at the end of drum. Normally in
axial-flow thresher, 80% of grains are separated in the first half of drum,
whereas, only 20% of grains are removed at latter half of the rotor.
Arnold, R.E. 1984: Experiments with Rasp Bar Threshing Drums I:
Some Factors Affecting Performance. J. of Agric. Engineering
Research, 9: 99 - 131.
Nwuba, E.U. 1998: Selected Physical and Mechanical Properties of
Cowpea as Related to Mechanical Threshing of the Entire Plant Shoot.
Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis. Agric. Engineering Department, A.B.U.
Zaria.
Oyekan, P.O., Adjebeng–Asem, S., Adegbulugbe, T., Asota, C., Kwaya,
P., Ifem, J., Ajayi-Obe, M., Lanipekun, A. 1990: Report on the State-of-
the-art of Soya- bean threshing in Nigeria. A Nationally Co- ordinated
Research Project on Soyabean. Grant Aided by International
Development Research Centre (IDRC). P. 86-88.
Sharma, K.D., Devnani, R.S. 1980: Threshing Studies on Soyabean and
Cowpea. AMA II, (1): 65-68.

2.3 THRESHING METHODS

8
Threshing methods are the various means by which paddy rice ear head
are separated from the plant. After being harvested, paddy bunches may be
stacked on the plot. The in-field storage method results in a pre-drying of
the rice ears before threshing, the purpose of which is to separate seeds
from panicles.
Gbabo, A., Gana, I.M. and Amoto, M.S. (2013). Design, fabrication and
testing of a millet thresher. Net. J. Agril. Sci., 1(4) : 100-106.
Hatwalne, A.P., Ambadkar, S.T., Paropate, R.V., Gandhwar, V.R. and
Wankhade, A.M. (2011). Design and development of a pedal-operated
flour mill. New York Sci. J., 4 (5) : 74-77.
DEVELOPMENT OF PEDAL OPERATED THRESHER FOR
FINGER MILLETS
175-180
180HIND AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND TRAINING
INSTITUTE Internat. J. agric. Engg., 8(2) Oct., 2015 :
Khurmi, R.S. and Gupta, J.K. (2005). A text of machine design, Eurasia
Publishing House (Pvt.) Ltd., Ram Nagar,NEW DELHI, INDIA.

2.4 TRADITIONAL MANUAL THRESHING

One of the simplest systems for threshing rice is to pick up the sheaf of
rice and strike or beat the panicles against a hard surface such as a tub,
threshing board or rack; or beating the sheaves spread out on a threshing-
floor with a flail or a stick or tramples it under foot. The threshing floors
on which the sheaves are spread must have a hard, clean surface. The
traditional threshing of rice is generally done by hand: bunches of panicles
are beaten against a hard element (e.g. a wooden bar log, bamboo table, or
stone). In many countries in Asia and Africa, and in Madagascar, the crop

9
is threshed by being trodden underfoot (by humans or animals); this
method often results in some losses due to the grain being broken or buried
in the earth.
Gbabo, A., Gana, I.M. and Amoto, M.S. (2013). Design fabrication and
testing of a millet thresher. Net Journal of Agricultural Science , 1(4):
100-106. Goyal, R. K., Vishwakarma, R. K. and Wanjari, O.D. (2008).
Optimization of pigeon pea dehulling process. Biosys- tems
Engineering , 99(1): 56–61. Kamble, H.G., Srivastava, A.P. and Panwar,
J.S. (2003). Development and evaluation of a pearl millet thresher.
Journal of Agricultural Engineering , 40(1): 18-25. Kushwaha, H.L.,
Srivastava, A.P. and Singh, H. (2005). Development and performance
evaluation of Okra seed extractor. International Commission of
Agricultural Engineering , 7: 1-13.

2.5 RELATED WORKS

10
2.5.1 MAIZE THRESHING MACHINE
Maize threshing as a post harvest operation is the removal of maize seeds
from the cob.
This operation can be carried out in the field or at the storage environment.
Maize shelling therefore is an important step towards the processing of
maize to its various finished products. The different methods of maize
shelling can be categorized based on various mechanization technology
used. These includes: hand-tool-technology, animal technology, and
engine power technology. Hand technology involves the use of hand tools
in 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 threshing or shelling the maize. To facilitate
speedy shelling of maize in order to reduce post harvest deterioration,
mechanical Shellers are recommended, because hand shelling methods
cannot support commercialized Shelling.
William, L.A., (1953). Mechanical Power Transmission Manual
Conover - Mast Publ. New York. NY, USA.
Hannah, J.; and Stephens, R.C. (1970). Me- chanics of machines:
elementary theory and example . Edward Arnold, London, England.
Ogunwede, O.I. (2003). Design and Construction of Plastic Crushing
Machine . PGD thesis, Department of Mechanical En- gineering,
Federal University of Technology (FUT) Mina, Nigeria.
ASME, (1995). Design of Transmission Shafting . American Society of
Mechanical Engineering, New York, NY USA

2.5.2 RICE THRESING MACHINE

11
Rice threshing is a process of separating rice grain from the straw. It can
either be done by hand or by a treadle thresher. The rice threshing machine
has peg-toothed threshing drum, however thresher fitted with wire loops-
bars are used as well. The panicle is fed into the machine and it has low
capacity than feed-in threshers, they are primarily used where rice straw is
bundled and stored for later use. The rice threshing machine has devices
such as an oscillating screen, centrifugal blower, wind board, and thresh
grain can be handled without further cleaning. The unprocessed rice is fed
into the opening between the cylinder and the concave at one end of the
machine. The pegs on the threshing cylinder hit the material separating the
grain from the straw, and at the same time accelerating them around the
cylinder. The majority of the grain is threshed during initial impact but
further threshing is performed as the material moves axially until the straw
is discharged. Thresh grain including impurities such as chaff and short
pieces of straw, pass through the opening in the concave and fall on the
oscillating screen where large impurities are blown and separated.

International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) (1981) Drawing and Test

Standard Paper of Throw-in Type thresher.

Institut Togolais de Recherche Agronomique (ITRA) (2007) Situation de

référence sur les principales céréales cultivées au Togo: Mais – Riz –
Sorgho – Mil.

Ministère de l’Agriculture, de l’Elevage et de la Pêche (MAEP) (2008)

Stratégie de la relance de la production agricole. Plan d’actions
d’urgence, période 2008-2010. Ministère de l’Agri., de l’Elevage et de la
Pêche du Togo.

12
Phillip DOA (1993) Aspects économiques de la traction animale au
Nigeria: aperçu de la situation. In: FAO, Energie humaine et animale
dans la production agricole, Actes de l’Atelier, pp: 128-131. Harare,
Zimbabwe 18-22.

2.7 GUINEA CORN THRESHING MACHINE

Corn shelling need precision and careful shelling of Corn, so that the Corn
wouldn’t break while shelling. Shelling manually is inefficient.

We are trying to make a power operated machine which can improve

productivity aids of profit of shelled Corns and reduce effort. Corn is the
Third largest cereal produced in the world. Methods of Corn shelling
include:

i. Shelling cob grain by hand

ii. Octagonal Corn Sheller
iii. Hand operated Corn Sheller and
iv. Beating by stick

This method was carried for removing Corn kernel from the cob. For
ergonomically evaluation ten male agricultural subjects of 25-35 year age
group were randomly selected for study. Present traditional method of
shelling Corn has proved to be inefficient, laborious, time consuming and
low output. The energy expenditure rate was highest for beating by stick
method (3.84 kcal/min) and lowest for octagonal Corn Sheller (1.52
kcal/min). Traditionally Corn is threshed by shelling cob grain by hand
and beating the cob by stick. At present Corn shelling has been improved
by the use of tubular Corn Sheller and hand operated Sheller. Energy
expenditure rate for shelling cob grain by hand and octagonal Corn

13
shelling operation could be scaled in “Very light” category of work load.
Whereas the hand operated Corn Sheller and beating by stick method
could be scaled as in “Light” category of work load. For Corn shelling
operations octagonal Corn Sheller and hand operated Corn shelling are
superior to shelling cob grain by hand and beating by stick Method.

3.4 CONSTRUCTION FORMULARS

ENGINE TORGUE

2 πN
T= 60
… … … …(i)

PULLEY RATIO

N1, N2, D1 D2

THE SPEED OF THE DRIVING SHAFT

N 1D1
N2= D2

TO DETERMINE THE SPEED OF THE BLOWER SHAFT

N 2D2
N3 = D3

TO DETERMINE THE SHEAR STRESS

P P
=
Shear stress J = A π
Xd2
4

TO DETERMINE THE POWER TRANSMITED BY THE ENGINE

2 πN X T PX 60
P= 60
∨T =
2 πN

14
TO DETERMINE THE BENDING STRESS

M σ E
= =
I y R

M = Bending moment acting at the given section

σ = Bending stress

I = Moment of inertial of the cross-section about the material fibre

I = Young modulus of the material of the beam and

R = Radius of curvature of the beam.

15
 CHAPTER THREE

MATERIALS AND METHODS

3.1 DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

1. Mild steel sheet (2.2m x 1.2 x 2mm)

2. Angle iron (50x50x2mm)
3. Flat bar (10.9m x 25mm x 5)
4. 3 pulleys of (142mm, 142mm, 105mm)
5. 4 bearings 25mm bore
6. 2 machine shaft (22mm, 22mm)

3.2 MACHINE DESCRIPTION

The finger millet threshing machine is made up of the following major

components.

i) Hopper: It is the part where the millet panicles are fed into the
threshing drum.
ii) Threshing chamber: It is the part where the millet grains are
beaten out of the panicles and separated from the bulk of the
straw. It consists of a rotary drum with beater pegs and a
stationary grid.
iii) Separating chamber: It is the part where the separation of grain
from chaffs takes place.
iv) Cleaning chamber: It is the part made up of sieve and blower
(fan) which blows air into the sieves. Whilst the grain is moving
over these sieves the air which is being blown through them
disallows settling of trash on the sieve and anything lighter in
weight than the grains.
16
 v) Blower housing: It is made of mild steel. It accommodates the
blower blade and the shaft.
vi) Threshing drum: It is the part which the threshing takes place

3.3 WORKING PRINCIPLE

The principle of operating finger millet threshing machine depends on the

action of the gasoline engine which provides power to the threshing shaft.
The threshing shaft which is attached with set of blades (hammers) which
rotates with the help of bearing, as the finger millet panicles is fed into the
threshing chamber through t he feeder (hopper), the grains are beaten out
by the hammers out of the panicles and separated from the bulk of the
straw. Hammers serves as auger that help to remove the straw from the
threshing chamber through the straw outlet located at the side of the
threshing chamber.

The grain and the chaffs pass through the sieve to the cleaning unit which
is subjected to a flow air that help to blow out the chaffs from the grain.

The grain collector beneath the machine helps to collect the grain from the
separation chambers (Which are quite free from impurities).

CHAPTER FOUR

CONSTRUCTION AND TESTING

17
4.1 CONSTRUCTION PROCEDURE

In construction of the finger millet threshing machine, the threshing drum

is first constructed with 2mm plate which is rolled on a rolling machine to
the diameter of 280mm x 145mm. It was cut into two parts, the upper and
the lower part of the threshing drum. The lower part serves as the sieve
which consists of 3mm holes. The cleaning unit is constructed using 2mm
plate and it is fixed to the threshing drum and mounted on the machine
stand.

The blower casing is constructed using 2mm plate.

The casing of the machine is constructed using a 2mm plate which has the
cleaning unit of:-

- The chaff outlet

- The grain outlet
- The blower
- Air passage.

The stand is constructed using an angle iron of 3mm, 350mm beneath and
510mm length.

4.2 TIME IT TAKES TO THRESH A QUANTITY

Quantity of thresh millet Time taken to thresh the millet

18
 (kg)
(s)
1. 1 8
2. 2 14
3. 5 41

PROCESSING RATE

Quantity
Fomular = Time

Frome the result above:

1
1. 8
=0.125 s

2
2. 18
=0.1111s

5
3. 50
=0.1s

CLEANING PROCESS in (kg)

- Unthresh Millet = 2kg

Thresh Millet = 1.6kg
Chaffs = 0.4kg
- Unthresh Millet = 5kg
Thresh Millet = 4.2kg
Chaffs = 1.1kg

CLEANING QUANTITY / EFFICIENCY IN (%)

CleanQuantity
Fomular = Total
x 100

19
 1.6
1. 2
x 100

Efficiency = 80%
4.2
2. 5
x 100

3. Efficiency = 84%

4.3 TESTING PROCEDURE

IDLE TESTING: the machine was first test after being assemble and
without any load; the machine run in a perfect way without any rubbing
sound or strange sound.

4.1.1 CONSTRUCTION OF THE HOPPER

a) The hopper pattern was marked on a 2mm sheet of metal.

b) The pattern was cut using hand cutting machine.
c) It was then folded into the required shape using a folding machine.

4.1.2 CONSTRUCTION OF THRESHING DRUM

a) The cylinder pattern was mark out on the sheet metal.

b) It was then cut out using a cutting machine.
c) The sheet was folded using the roller-folding machine into
cylindrical shape.

4.1.3 CONSTRUCTION OF THE HAMMERS

a) The hammers are marked and cut with a cutting machine to their
require size on a 4mm plate.
b) The hammers are welded on the turned shaft in a spiral form.

20
4.1.4 CONSTRUCTION OF THE BLOWER

Blower is provided on a separate shaft behind the threshing cylinder. The

blower diameter was 30 mm. Straw and chaff from the top sieve are
sucked by the blower and blown away to one side. Blown material can be
collected, if required, by attaching a bag at the outlet.

4.1.5 CONSTRUCTION OF THE STAND AND THE DRIVE

SEATING.

The length of the stand is mark on the angle bar, four in number also the
supported; four in number were also mark out.

a) The four legs of angle iron were mark.

b) Then were then cut out using hand cutting machine.
c) The legs were positioned and the beams welded to form the stand.

4.1.6 MANUFACTURING OF THE SHAFT

a) A mild steel of 30mm tick in length was cut using a cutting machine.
b) It was machined to the desire size on the lathe machine.

4.2 ASSEMBLY PROCEDURE

a) The frames were joined using electric arc welding.

b) The hopper was welded in position using electric arc welding.
c) The hammers are fixed into the threshing drum
d) The bearing were secured using bold and nut
e) The whole machine was mounted on the stand.

21
 f) The upper cylinder which consists of the hopper and straw outlet is
fixed to the lower cylinder which served as the sieve which make up
the threshing drum and in between the threshing drum, a set of
hammers which are attached to a shaft which is laid in a horizontal
position which makes up the threshing chamber.
g) The blower is fixed with two bearings and tight to the machine
frame attached to the case and the blower is covered with a 2mm
plate.
h) The drive is attached by the side of the two pulleys.

ANALYSIS

PARTS OF MACHINE LENGTH

Feeder 280 x 145 2mm sheet
Diameter of threshing chamber 255mm
Length of threshing drum 510mm
Breath of stand 330mm x 600mm
Stand height 150mm
Height of casing 790mm x 110mm
Length of blower 500mm x 260mm
Blower shaft diameter 30mm
Blower shaft length 720mm
Bored bearing of blower shaft 25mm
Hammer shaft diameter 30mm
Hammer shaft length 720mm
Blower case diameter 420mm
Blower case length 520mm
Drive seating 335mm x 360mm

22
Blower pulley bore diameter 24mm
Blower pulley diameter 145mm
Hammer pulley bore diameter 24
Hammer pulley diameter 145
Engine pulley bore diameter 20mm
Engine pulley diameter 110mm
Sieve hole diameter 3mm
Hammer length 100mm x 40mm

23
 CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.0 INTRODUCTION

Finger millet is a grain that is planted by farmers and it is highly nutritious,

it is planted during raining season.

At the beginning of dry season in early November, the millet starts to dry
once it dry the panicle holds the seed very tight and early by December the
finger millet is harvested by cutting its straws from the stems and taken for
threshing.

5.1 SUMMARY

The machine was constructed with the necessary material; it was tested
and found working perfectly.

5.2 CONCLUSION

After the machine is constructed and tested with the material and
discovered that it work reasonable.

The machine was developed and the independent variables were optimized
for maximum threshing and cleaning efficiency for threshing of finger
millets. The optimized values of the independent variables for maximum
threshing efficiency (99.5%) and cleaning efficiency (88.5%) 105.31 kgh -
1 feed rate, 626.9 rpm cylinder speed, 3 mm threshing sieve size. The
thresher was found suitable for threshing finger millets.

5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS
24
Based on the project the following are recommended for further work.

i. In order to increase the output of the machine, the size of the

machine has to be increased for large scale production.
ii. The machine should be produced in mass in order to be available for
finger millet farmers.

25