Development of power operated Groundnut stripper

Stripping is one of the most important operations in groundnut harvesting. The primary objective of developing a power operated groundnut stripper is to alleviate the physical efforts required by farmers and minimize the time needed for separating groundnuts. This machine can help to reduce the physical effort of farmers, increase work efficiency and enhance overall productivity. The machine operated by 1 hp single phase electric motor. The main components of the developed power operated groundnut stripper are stripping unit, separator unit, stripping unit safety cover. The power operated groundnut stripper has dimension 920 mm × 650 mm × 700 mm. Four labors can do stripping on machine simultaneously. The performance evaluation of machine was conducted with two independent parameters i.e. feed rate (kg-h-1) and rotor peripheral speed (rpm) with three replications and dependent parameters i.e. percentage of unstripped pod (%), percentage of stripped pod (%), cleaning efficiency (%), stripping capacity (kg-h-1), stripping efficiency (%). At feed rate 420 kg-h-1 and at rotor speed 350 rpm minimum unstripped pod percentage 1.44 %, minimum damaged pod percentage 0.98 %, maximum stripping efficiency 97.61 %, maximum cleaning efficiency 94.25 % were observed. The average stripping capacity of the machine 178.73 kg-h-1 was obtained. This machine is suitable for small and medium farmers, for groundnut stripping with an operating cost of Rs-Kg-11.11 of groundnut pods. The developed machine saved operating cost and time by 82.24 % and 96.64 % comparatively to conventional method of groundnut pod stripping.