Performance of a Newly Fabricated Finger Millet Processing Machine

Abstract

Finger millet (Elucene corocana) grain is highly nutritious, being richer in protein, fat and minerals especially in calcium and iron compared to rice. It has an increasing demand in the health market because, most diabetic patients are eager to include finger millet in their diet. Considerable amount of finger millet are being lost during post harvest -|C operations as there is no efficient method to thresh, de-husk and clean finger millet at present except manual application, which is laborious, difficult, time consuming and provides low quality output. The general objective of this research was to investigate an efficient method for threshing, de-husking and cleaning finger millet by mechanized process. Thus, finger millet threshing, de-husking and cleaning machine was developed. Main components of the machine were feeding unit, threshing unit, de-husking unit, separation unit, winnowing part, and the frame of the machine. A belt and pulley system was used to transmit the power from single phase 746 W, 1500 rpm electric motor to the machine. The machine was evaluated and received satisfactory results. It performed at a rated capacity of 32 kg/hr with total grain input of 29.92 kg/hr. The threshing efficiency was 94.3%, and the cleaning efficiency was 92.5%. The percentage of threshing recovery was 93.7. These results revealed that the developed . machine is appropriate for finger millet threshing, de-husking and cleaning process via improving its efficiency.