J. agric. Engng Res.

(1978) 23, 45-51

Threshing and Separation Performance of a Locally

Built Cowpea Thresher
M. T. IGE*

Based on the results of physical measurement taken for some varieties of cowpea, a cowpea
thresher was designed and built. This paper reports the performance of the locally built
thresher.
Three varieties of cowpea, Ife brown, IVU-37 and H64-3 were used for the tests. The
experiments were carried out at various speeds in order to determine the optimum speed for the
thresher. Results of the tests indicated that for optimum performance, the threshing drum and
fan speeds should be about 500 rev/min and 1400 rev/min, respectively, for the Ife brown and
H64-3 varieties.

1. hltroduction
Cowpea is a valuable and prominent source of plant protein in the diet of Nigerians. The crop
is a legume usually interplanted with other crops such as yam and maize by subsistence farmers
while some farmers with large acreages practise monocropping of the legume.
Traditionally, cowpea pods are harvested and threshed manually. The threshing is usually
done by beating the pods with clubs on uncemented floor. Though not documented, much damage
results from this uncontrolled beating. Also during this process stone and other dirt particles
readily mix with the grains, thus resulting in produce of low quality.
After threshing, the grains are separated from the chaff manually with the aid of a calabash.
This is carried out by tossing the mixture of the grains and chaff up and down in the calabash in
such a position that the wind blows across the tossed particles. The chaff is blown away while
the grains drop into the calabash. Another popular traditional method of separation is to throw
the mixture with some force; the chaff usually drops nearest to the thrower.
This traditional method of threshing and subsequent grain separation is physically demanding
on the person performing the operations. The method does not encourage high production and
often results in a low quality product. Unfortunately, the small holdings of Nigerian farmers do
not justify investment in big machines like the combine harvester, which in any case has not been
well tested for local crops. The uneven maturity of pods and the lack of mechanized land prepar-
ation are other factors which make the operation of such machines on the small farms difficult.
However, there is a growing need to reduce drudgery and improve the quality of threshed cowpea
by providing farmers with an appropriate thresher which is aimed at meeting their needs. To
this end, a mechanical thresher was designed and built. This paper reports the threshing and
separation performance of the machine.

2. Previous work
Researchers have experimented with various forms of bean thresher. These threshers range
from plain rollers’* 2 to torsion spring tooth cylinders3 and spike tooth cylinders.4 All these
threshing devices usually have their cylinders rotating in a stationary concave to effect the
threshing and they are popularly used in combine harvesters.
Mechanical damage to beans during threshing has been evaluated by separating the grains into
the following categories. 4
(a) Splits: those with brittle fractures or separated cotyledons.
(b) Checks: those with checked or cracked skins.
‘Lecturer in Agricultural Engineering Department, University of Ife, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
Received 16 September 1976; accepted in revised form 26 July 1977
45
46 PERFORMANCE OF COWPEA THRESHER

(c) Cuts: those with sharp narrow indentation in the skins and cotyledons.
(d) Smashed: those with crushed cotyledons.
(e) Sound beans: undamaged beans.
Pickett4 investigated the effects of the cylinder speed, moisture content and feed rate on the
threshing performance of a 1971 Allis-Chalmers Gleaner Model K self-propelled combine
harvester and reported that threshing efficiency is highly dependent on cylinder speed, the
moisture content and feed rate.
It is also known that the performance of a machine is determined to some extent by the
properties of the crop. Recent efforts to develop and improve the quality of cowpea grains have
resulted in the development of several new varieties. It is therefore of interest to evaluate the
performance of the locally built cowpea thresher using the recently developed cowpea varieties.

Fig. 1. Side view of the cowpea thresher and the blown-out chafi

3. Description of the thresher

The thresher shown in Fig. 2 consists essentially of a threshing drum with its concave and a fan
for the separation of the chaff. The separated chaffs are seen at the extreme right in the picture.

3.1. The threshing drum and the concave

Most previous designs have used a cylindrical threshing drum. Although it is not documented,
it is felt that this shape may give little or no fanning effect to aid in the discharge of the particles.
Also there may be a lot of carry over in such designs and this may encourage damage and high
power consumption. In order to give some fanning effect inside the threshing unit, it was decided
to use a drum with a square cross-section (see Fig. 2). Teeth were welded along each edge and
between 2 edges of the square-based prism. The concave forms a quadrant around the drum.
Three rows of teeth were equally spaced on the concave. The clearance distance between the
teeth on the drum and those on the concave was determined taking into consideration the results
of measurements of dimensions of some varieties of cowpea studied earlier. 5 Based on this study
the minimum clearance distance was calculated to be 114 mm. To allow some space for the
chaff which might enter the space with the grain, 12.5 mm was used forthe design. The diameter
of the circle formed by the drum was 150 mm.
M. T. IGE 47

3.2. Fan
The straight bladed type of centrifugal fan sometimes called the paddle wheel type of fan was
used in this design. This type of fan is capable of operating satisfactorily in an environment
containing dust particles such as occurs during threshing.

4. Experimental procedures
Three varieties of cowpea, Ife brown, IVU-37 and H64-3, were used in testing the performance
of the machine. For each variety, small samples were obtained from the bulk sample, weighed
and used for the different experiments. For each experiment a sample was fed through the
machine twice and the threshed cowpea collected and weighed (W,). The unthreshed cowpea
after the second run were shelled by hand and weighed (I+‘,). The seeds blown out with the
chaffs were picked and weighed (W,). The total weight of grain (W) was given by
w= WI-j- w,-t w,. . ..(I)

Fig. 2. Details of the drum and concave unit

This equation assumes that the weight of the grains which have been reduced to small
fragments and blown out is negligible.
Threshing efficiency, (Te) was calculated as
Te = (W,+W,)/W. . ..(2)
The percentage blown out, called separation loss (S,), was calculated as
s, = w,/ w. . ..(3)
For each variety, the tests described above were performed at 6 different speeds of the drum
and 2 different moisture contents. Each experiment was replicated 3 times. The curves plotted
in this report are those of the average values obtained from the three replicates.
Samples of the threshed grains and the chaffs were taken for moisture content determinations.
The moisture was determined by the oven method according to the ASAE standards.
For each experiment, samples were obtained for determining damage done to the cowpea.
About 1000 seeds were randomly picked from the threshed grains for each experiment. From
this sample, 100 seeds were randomly selected and the seeds were examined one by one and
categorized into splits, checks, cuts, smashed and sound cowpea. The splits checks, cuts and
48 PERFORMANCE OF COWPEA THRESHER

smashed cowpea were added up and recorded as the percentage of the threshed cowpea that was
damaged.

5. Results and discussions

The threshing efficiency of the machine at various drum speeds is shown in Fig. 3 for the 3
varieties of cowpea studied. In all the cases, the threshing efficiency increased with drum speed.
The threshing efficiency increased from 86% at a drum speed of 300 rev/min to 99.1% at 550
rev/min for the Ife brown variety when the moisture content of the seed and chaff were 14.5%
and 18.3% w.b., respectively. At the same range of speed for the H64-3 variety, the threshing
efficiency increased from 68 % to about 98 % at seed and chaff moisture contents of 14.7 % and
16.6% w.b. For the IVU-37 variety, the threshing efficiency increased from 81% to 98 % at the
same drum speeds for seed and chaff with 13.6 % and 14.6 % moisture content, respectively.
Fig. 3 also shows the effect of moisture content. Generally, it appears that higher threshing
efficiencies were obtained at the lower moisture contents. In all the varieties studied, the moisture
content of the chaff was greater than that of the seed even after sun drying the pods. It is possible
that the moisture content of the chaff rather than that of the seed may be of primary importance
in determining threshing efficiency. In the case of the IVU-37 variety, the sample whose chaff
had the least moisture content, contained seeds of higher moisture content than the other sample
and gave the higher threshing efficiency.
Fig. 4 gives the results of mechanical damage to the cowpea at the different drum speeds. The
results shown are the percentages of the threshed grains which were damaged and not those of the
total grains. It is clear that mechanical damage increased with increase in speed. Generally,
damage increased from about 1% at 300 rev/min speed to about 6 % at 550 rev/min speed. Fig. 4

Ife brown I-164

-3

P
E Moistufz content: MOISIUR ccntent;
OSeed 14.5%, chaff 16.3% OSeed 14.7%, chaff 16.6%
70 -
0% 13.9%. chaff 16.2% 0 seed 10.6%. chaff 11.5%

Moisture content:
OS& 13.6%. chaff 14.6%
. Seed 13*2%, chaff 15.00,

Drum speed (rev/mid

Fig. 3. Threshing efficiency of the locally-built thresher

M. T. IGE

Ife tmm H64-3 1

Moistu* mntent : Moisture omtenl :
osetdw-5%. chaff 16.3% Osacd 14*7%, chaff 16.6%
??
Setd 13.9%, chnff 16.2%. ??Seed IO-a%. chaff 11.5%
/ t

50
J I
350
??
?? ??

I
450
0

550
I

Moisture content:
i

OSeed l3*6%, chaff 14.6%

250 350 450 550

Drum sped (fev/min)

Fig. 4. Mechamcal damage to different varieties of cowpea ut various drum speeds

Ife brown

JO 0 ’

Moisture content : Moisture cxntent:

ostedw5%.$ chaff 16.3% OSeed 14.7%. chaff 16.6%
??
Seed 13.9%. chaff 16.2% ??Seed lo-6%, chaff I I .5%

5! IVU-37

- “Y 450 550
Drum speed (rev/mid

Fig. 5. Percentage of threshed and undamaged cowpeas

50 PERFORMANCE OF COWPEA THRESHER

also seems to indicate that moisture content has an effect on mechanical damage to cowpea during
threshing but owing to the small range of moisture for each variety, no meaningful conclusions
can be drawn.
The results in Fig. 3 suggest that a high drum speed is essential to increase the threshing
efficiency while Fig. 4 indicates that the drum speed should be low to minimize grain damage.
In order to establish an optimum speed of the drum, a compromise has to be made to obtain the
highest percentage of threshed and undamaged grains. This percentage is plotted in Fig. 5 and
it is seen that the highest percentage of threshed and undamaged grains were obtained at about
500 rev/min drum speed for the 3 varieties of cowpea studied.
The results of the experiments carried out to assess the separation loss of the fan are plotted in
Fig. 6. As in Fig. 4, no meaningful conclusions about the effect of moisture can be drawn owing
to the small range of moisture tested. The separation loss was low at low speed and increased
with increasing fan speed. From the curves it appears that the fan should be run at low speed,
but observations during the experiments showed that the fan was not very effective in separating
the chaff from the seeds at low speeds, resulting in clogging of the chaff outlet. It was also
observed that a fan speed of about 1400 rev/min corresponds to the least separation loss at which
there was little or no clogging for the Ife brown and H64-3 varieties. At this speed the separation
loss could be as high as 16 % for the IVU-37 variety whose grains are small compared with those of

I ??
-
H64 -3

0
??
-

2, I
690 970 1250 1530

Moisturecontent:

690 970 1250 1530

Fan speed bevhin)

Fig. 6. Separation loss of the thresher for diflerent varieties of cowpea at various fan speeds
M. T. IGE 51

Ife brown and H64-3. By using a baffle at the chaff outlet, this high separation loss was reduced
to about 5 % at the set fan speed 1400 rev/min.
Although, with the fan set at 1400 rev/min, the machine has been successfully used by the
University of Ife Commercial Farm and the Research Farm to thresh the Ife brown variety, the
high separation loss for the IVU-37 variety appears unacceptable. Hence the machine is being
further developed with particular attention being paid to the fan position and inlet area. The
seed and chaff outlets are also being modified for further investigation.

6. Conclusions
The threshing and separation performance of a locally built cowpea thresher have been
evaluated. The results show that the speed of the drum affects the threshing efficiency of cowpea.
Also the results seem to indicate that moisture content has an effect on threshing efficiency,
mechanical damage and separation loss but owing to the small range of moisture for each variety
no decisive conclusions about the effect of moisture can be drawn. A threshing efficiency as high
as 99 % was obtained for samples with the least moisture content in each of the 3 varieties studied
at beater speeds of 500 rev/min and over. A drum speed of 500 rev/min appears to be the optimum
in order to obtain the highest percentage of threshed and undamaged seeds. The speed of the fan
should be set at about 1400 rev/min for the least separation loss without undue clogging of the
chaff outlet for Ife brown and H64-3 varieties. In order to be able to thresh and separate suc-
cessfully other varieties of cowpea such as IVU-37 whose grains are small compared with those
of Ife brown and H64-3, a baffle was arranged at the chaff outlet and the separation loss was
reduced from about 16% to about 5% at a fan speed of 1400 rev/min.

Acknowledgements
The author profoundly acknowledges the assistance and hard work of Mr 0. A. Ajayi, a final-year
student in the Department of Agricultural Engineering, University of Ife, during the construction and
testing of the machine. I appreciate too the kindness of Dr C. 0. Alofe of the Plant Science Department of
the same University for supplying the cowpea used for testing the machine.

REFERENCES

I Bainer R.; Winters, J. S. New principle in threshing lima bean seed. Agric. Engng, 1937 18 (5) 205-206
2 J&her R.; Winters, J. S. Results of tests of rubber roller seed bean seed. Agric. Engng, 1938 251-252
3 McColly, J. E. Harvesting edible beans in Michigan. Trans. ASAE, 1958 1 (1) 68-71, 75
4 Picket& L. K. Mechanical damage andprocessing loss during Naby hean harvesting. Trans. ASAE, 1973
1047-1050
5 Ige, M. T. Measurement of some parameters affecting the hand& losses of some varieties of cowpea.
J. agric. Engng Res., 1977 22 127-133