DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF A MANUAL THRESHER FOR RUBBER SEEDS PROCESSING AND STORAGE

<table style="margin-left: -12.75pt; border-collapse: collapse;"> <tbody> <tr style="height: 12.85pt;"> <td style="width: 383.55pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; height: 12.85pt;" colspan="2"> <p><strong><span lang="EN-US"><span>      </span>ABSTRACT</span></strong></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm;"> <p> </p> </td> </tr> <tr style="height: 63.0pt;"> <td style="width: 17.7pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; height: 63.0pt;"> <p><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p> </td> <td style="width: 387.2pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; height: 63.0pt;" colspan="2"> <p><span lang="EN-US">The development and evaluation of a manual rubber threshing machine was carried out with a view to reducing the drudgery and losses attached to threshing of rubber seeds for further processing<span> </span>and<span> </span>storage.<span> </span>The<span> </span>machine<span> </span>comprises<span> </span>of<span> </span>a<span> </span>concave<span> </span>sieve,<span> </span>frame,<span> </span>threshing<span> </span>arms<span> </span>and<span> </span>side plates.<span> </span>The<span> </span>aperture<span> </span>of<span> </span>the<span> </span>concave<span> </span>sieve<span> </span>was<span> </span>designed<span> </span>based<span> </span>on<span> </span>the<span> </span>dimensions<span> </span>of<span> </span>some<span> </span>collected samples<span> </span>of<span> </span>rubber<span> </span>seeds.<span> </span>The<span> </span>performance<span> </span>of<span> </span>the<span> </span>machine<span> </span>was<span> </span>evaluated<span> </span>using<span> </span>three<span> </span>runs<span> </span>of<span> </span>rubber seeds at 2kg per run at 9.307% moisture content wet basis. The results showed the average threshing<span> </span>efficiency<span> </span>of<span> </span>90.83<span> </span>%,<span> </span>average<span> </span>percentage<span> </span>of<span> </span>unthreshed<span> </span>rubber<span> </span>seed<span> </span>of<span> </span>2.167<span> </span>%,<span> </span>average percentage of semi-threshed of 7% and average throughput capacity of 53.4kg/hr as the performance indices. It can be concluded, that the developed machine performed efficiently.</span></p> <p><strong><span lang="EN-US">Keywords:</span></strong><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">Rubber<span> </span>threshing<span> </span>machine,<span> </span>development,<span> </span>evaluation,<span> </span>efficiency,<span> </span>throughput<span> </span><span>capacity.</span></span></p> <p><br></p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table>