Effects of concave clearance and rotor speed affecting maize shelling performance

Abstract

Presently, there is a development of a maize shelling machine fitted with a tractor. Therefore, it is necessary to study design factors. This research therefore aimed at studying the suitable of concave clearance and rotor speed for disc pegs. This research assessed the shelling performance of concave clearance and rotor speed by Shelling Efficiency (SE), Total Losses (TL), Grain Breakage (GB) from four levels of concave clearance including 15, 20, 25, and 30 mm and three levels of rotor speed including 6, 10 and 14 m/s. The results showed that the increasing concave clearance affected the TE decreased, but the TL increased, whereas concave clearance did not affect GB. The increasing rotor speed affected the TE and GB increased, but the TL decreased to the drum speed, which the suitable concave clearance, not more than 20 mm and the rotor speed, not less than 10 m/s.