Vol. 11, Issue 5 (2022)

Author(s):
Shinde Ankita, P. K. Sahoo, Phdtare Prajakta, Debraj Behera and P. K. Barik

Abstract:
Maize (Zea mays) is grown throughout the year in India. Maize is one of the most widely cultivated crop grows in both tropical and warm temperate latitudes. Maize in India ranks third in total production and productivity and fifth in total area. Solar power is ideally used in India due to location factor and also gives the benefit to the environment as renewable energy. In present study, the small sized DC motor (0.5 hp) operated mobile maize dehusker cum sheller was developed for selected operational parameters, viz. moisture content (11.23, 13.07, 15.36%), feed rate (20, 40, 60 kg h^-1) and rotational speed (415,460,510 rpm). The machine performance parameters resulted that, the maximum dehusking (98.79%) and shelling (96.84%) was found to be at 20 kg h^-1 feed rate, 510 rpm and 11.23% moisture content. The total losses of grains were found to be maximum (7.08%) while it was minimum (4.31%) on 11.23% of moisture content, 510 rpm of rotational speed & 40 kg h¹ of feed rate. The maximum output capacity (36.14 kg h^-1) was obtained for 60 kg h^-1 feed rate. The total production cost of the mobile maize dehusker cum sheller was found to be Rs. 1, 78,000 and the operating cost per hour as 169.22 Rs h^-1.