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Development and Optimization of a Rice Thresher

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Adetola Olufemi Adefidipe Mayowa E.

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 ISSN: 2714 - 2450
Adeleke University Journal of Engineering and Technology

[AUJET] Vol. 5, No 2, 16 - 28 (2022)

www.aujet.adelekeuniversity.edu.ng

Development and Optimization of a Rice Thresher

Adefidipe M. E. 1 & Adetola, O. A. *1

1
Department of Agricultural & Environmental Engineering, Federal University of Technology Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria.
Corresponding author: oaadetola@futa.edu.ng

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Received: June / 2022
Revised: August / 2022
Accepted: October / 2022
Published: December / 2022
Keywords: Design, Evaluation,
Optimization, Rice, Threshing
The development and optimization of a rice thresher was done using locally available
materials. The component of the machine includes the hopper, threshing chamber, spiked
shaft, blower, air velocity controller, frame, and electric motor. The machine was evaluated
under different conditions of blower air velocity (2, 4, and 6 m/s), speed shaft (600, 750,
and 900 rpm) and moisture content (8, 12, and 16%) respectively. The experiment uses face
centered - composite design with three blower air velocity, three moisture content and three
machine speeds resulting in a total of 20 runs. The optimum machine performance and
operational conditions were determined using response surface methodology on Design
Expert Software Version 11. The result shows that the threshing capacity, threshing
efficiency, and cleaning efficiency, of the rice thresher ranges from 83.92 kg/h - 187.5 kg/h,
64.44 % - 92.61 %, and 55.75 % - 97.92 %, respectively. The machine speed and moisture
content decrease the cleaning efficiency. Whereas, the air velocity increased the threshing
capacity and cleaning efficiency but shows a reduction trend with the threshing efficiency.
The developed optimal mathematical models (Quadratic model) can significantly (P<0.05)
predict about 90.01, 76.83 and 76.83% change in the threshing capacity, threshing
efficiency, and cleaning efficiency respectively as a function of the input parameters.
According to the optimal solution, the developed thresher has a better performance of
167.30 kg/h, 83.66% and 83.14% for the machine capacity, threshing efficiency, and
cleaning efficiency respectively, with the highest desirability value of 70.9%, when operated
under machine speed of 768.56 rpm, air velocity of 6.00 m/s and moisture content of
13.08%, therefore, this operational condition is recommended for the effective operation of
the machine.

1. INTRODUCTION
Rice (Oryza sativa) is produced in at least 95 countries across the globe and provides a staple food for more than half of the world’s
current population. At the beginning of the 1990s, annual production was around 350 million tons and by the end of the century it
reached 410 million tons (Ogundipe, 2017). FAO (2010) forecast a growing rice demand of 2 billion metric tons in 2030 based on the
current population increases over this century. Rice is the second widely cultivated crop and also considered as the most important cereal
crop for human consumption which is more than half of the world’s population, almost more than three billion people, are dependent
on rice as a staple food (IJB, 2013). In developing countries, several hundred million people are dependent on its cultivation and
postharvest activities as their main sources of employment particularly in the rural areas. More than four-fifths of the world's rice is
produced by small-scale farmers and consumed locally (FAO, 2010).
However, rice consumption in Africa is far more than its production level. Nigeria is Africa’s second largest economy, with 75 million
people living in poverty (Diagne et al., 2013). Most Nigerians prefer local rice varieties because of their taste and smell. However,
unhygienic processing has hindered our local rice from competing favourably with imported rice (Ani et al., 2018). After threshing next
processes are parboiling and milling. Much of the milling is done by co-operatives, the largest of which is in Lafia, in Nassarawa State,
where there are around 700 mills; rice milled here is transported to all parts of the country by truck.
Rice has been traditionally known to be an important basic food commodity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Of the total landmass of 98.3 million
hectares in Nigeria, only 1.5 million hectares of the cultivable 71.2 million hectares are under rice production. Sorghum and cassava

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 Adeleke University Journal of Engineering and Technology, Vol. 5, No. 2, 16 - 28 (2022)
had 3.3 and 4.0 million hectares respectively. Statistics show that agricultural food production in Nigeria increases at about 2.9% per
annum while food demand is growing at a rate of 8.3% annually. This excess demand portrays the problem of food scarcity, which is a
consequence of low productivity of staple foods like rice. The widening gap between regional rice supply and demand has been met by
imports which increases at a rate of 20% annually. The Nigerian rice sector has made remarkable improvement in the last decade as
production has increased significantly thereby reducing the gap between domestic supply and demand. In the last three decades, rice
imports make up greater proportion of Nigerian imports as rice forms a structural component of the Nigerian diet. Past government
inconsistent policies were not successful in securing good market share for domestic rice producers, hence producers suffered great
losses. The recent resurgence of interest by the present administration to intensify domestic rice production has yielded positive results
(Ugochukwu and Ezedinma, 2011).
Rice is the most economically important food crop in many developing countries and has also become a major crop in many developed
countries where its consumption has increased considerably. It has become necessary to meet the demand of the world’s current
population growth rate, and the least costly means for achieving this aim is to increase rice productivity wherever possible. The main
challenges encountered by rice processors in Nigeria are to find appropriate solutions for quality rice processing.
Despite the efforts to increase rice production, not much commensurate effort has been made to improve local rice processing especially
threshing, even though it is one of the most labour-intensive activities in the farmer’s cropping calendar. Mechanized threshing has the
potential to significantly improve labour productivity and develop it to an industry capable of producing rice of acceptable quality.
Threshing is also one of the largest costs in the producer’s budget, and therefore an obvious target in any campaign to reduce the cost
of rice production (Adewumi et al., 2007). A number of small, medium, and large threshers have been in existence for quite a long time,
but due to low or poor performance in comparison with the traditional methods, they have not been adopted to a significant extent. Some
are hand-held threshers and pedal operated ones (Olugboji, 2004).
Though, previous works has been done by many researchers on rice thresher within and outside Nigeria soil which was compiled in this
work with results gotten from there various works. Ouezou (2009) designed a throw-in type rice thresher and recommended that on the
fabricated machine, chaff and the grains on the screen were moving one sided. Decrease in threshing capacity when the speed is high
and at moisture content above 21% stucks the chaff within the threshing space and the cost of the machine was too high for locals to
afford. The scatter loss, cleaning efficiency and weight of the machine were 18%, 99% and 146kg respectively. Olumuyiwa et al. (2014)
reported the throughput capacity and mechanical seed damage of a rice thresher to be 100kg/hr and 1.5% respectively.
Mutai (2018) reported that the cleaning unit of thresher should be re-oriented to improve scatter loss. Cleaning efficiency should be
improved. Bigger sieve should be used and the thresher should be evaluated at high moisture content higher than 12-21% which was
used during performance evaluation. The threshing efficiency, cleaning efficiency, throughput and scatter loss were 96.5%, 95.2%,
60kg/hr and 27.6% respectively. Ani et al. (2018) reported throughput, threshing efficiency, cleaning efficiency, mechanical seed
damage and scatter loss on his designed rice thresher to be 190kg/hr, 62.50%, 99.0%,1.25% and 6.25% respectively. Despite these,
almost all of the researchers made recommendations for improvements and these necessitate further research into the design and
functionality of affordable paddy rice thresher, developed with locally available material to improve rice processing operation of the
small and medium scale rice farmers.
Nowadays, labour availability for threshing is a major problem. The use of large power operated threshers for threshing rice is
uneconomical for small and marginal farmers. To overcome these problems, portable size motorised rice thresher was developed to meet
these challenges which all it parts is locally sourced, fabricated and assembled for performance evaluation.
2. METHODOLOGY
The materials that were used and methods followed in the development and optimization of the developed thresher.
2.1 Design Considerations and Materials Selection
The rice thresher was designed to be powered with 2 hp electric motor with 1440 rpm rotational speed. The environmental impact of
the machine was considered during the material selection and other consideration includes ease of machining and joining by welding,
cost constraint and ease of operation and maintenance. The machine components were constructed from mild steel materials of various
sizes and shapes. The properties of the materials were selected based on the strength and rigidity that is required by each component and
also on the availability of the material in local market. Mild steel sheet was selected for the threshing and separation chamber. Angle
mild steel was used for the machine frame while standard mesh wire gauze was used for the sieve.
2.2 Design Calculations
2.2.1 Speed and pulley selection
The speed of the electric motor (1440 rpm) with pulley of 70 mm diameter was mounted on the shaft. The required pulley diameter for
the reduction of the speed of the shaft to 750 rpm was determined using Equation 1.

𝑁1 𝐷2
= (1)
𝑁2 𝐷1
Where: 𝑁1 is the speed of the driving shaft (electric motor) in rpm, 𝑁2 is the speed of the driven shaft (threshing shaft) in rpm, 𝐷1 is the
diameter of the pulley on driving shaft (electric motor); mm, and 𝐷2 is the diameter of the pulley on driven shaft (threshing shaft);
134.40 𝑚𝑚

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 Adeleke University Journal of Engineering and Technology, Vol. 5, No. 2, 16 - 28 (2022)
2.2.2 Shaft Design
The schematic view of the shaft and the loaded components which included the spiked threshing drum and pulley is shown in Figure 1.
The weight of the threshing drum was calculated and determined as the product of the material density, volume and acceleration due to
gravity (Equation 2). The weight of mass of the largest pulley was directly measured as 3.26 kg
𝑊𝐷 = 𝜌𝑉𝐷 𝑔 (2)
Where: WD is the weight of the threshing drum (𝑊𝐷 = 86.47 𝑁), 𝜌 is the density of the material (7800 kg/m3), 𝑉𝐷 is the volume of the
material (threshing drum with 72 spikes) which was calculated from equation 3 and g is the acceleration due to gravity (9.81 m/s)
1
𝑉𝐷 = 𝜋𝐷𝑙𝑡 + 𝜋𝐷2 𝑡 + 72 𝜋𝑑 2 ℎ (3)
2

Where: 𝑉𝐷 is the volume of the material (threshing drum with 72 spikes), D is the diameter of the threshing drum (0.22 m), 𝑙 is the length
of the threshing drum (0.46 m). d is the diameter of the spiked (0.2 m), ℎ is the height of the spikes (0.005 m), t is the thickness of the
plate (0.002 m) and 𝑉𝐷 which is the volume of the material resulted to 0.00113 𝑚3

Spiked threshing drum

Pulley

Support

Figure 1: Loaded components of the threshing shaft

The weight of the pulley was calculated based on the product of the material density, volume and acceleration due to gravity (Equation
4).
𝑊𝑃 = 𝑀𝑃 𝑔 (4)
Where: WP is the weight of the pulley (𝑊𝑝 = 31.96 𝑁), 𝑀𝑃 is the mass of the pulley (kg) and g is the acceleration due to gravity (9.81
m/s2).
The schematic diagram of the shear force and bending moment of the threshing shaft is presented in Figure 3. The maximum torsional
moment of the shaft was therefore calculated as the product of the maximum shear force and the span of the shaft as shown in Equation
5.
𝑀𝑡 = 𝐹𝑙 (5)
Mt is Maximum torsional moment (33.99 𝑁𝑚), F is the maximum shear force and l is the length of the shaft.
The diameter of the shafts was determined based on the standard equation (Equation 6) obtained from Khurmi and Gupta (2005),
diameter of the shaft was calculated thus;
16
𝑑3 = √(𝑀𝑏 𝑥 𝐾𝑚 )2 + (𝑀𝑡 𝑥 𝐾𝑡 )2 (6)
𝜋𝜏
Where, Mb is Maximum bending moment (25.95 𝑁𝑚), Mt is Maximum torsional moment (33.99𝑁𝑚), Km is combined shock and
fatigue factor for bending (3.0), Kt is combined shock and fatigue factor for torsion (3.0) and 𝜏 is maximum permissible shear stress
(55 × 106 𝑁𝑚) and d is diameter of shaft (d = 22.8 mm and 25 mm shaft was selected)
2.2.3 Belt design
The length of the belt and the angle of lap were calculated using Equations 7 and 8 respectively.

 (𝐷1 +𝐷2 )2
𝐿 = (𝐷1 + 𝐷2 ) + 2𝐶 + (7)
2 4𝐶

Where: L is the length of the belt (mm), 𝐷1 is the diameter of the pulley on driving shaft (electric motor); 70 mm, and 𝐷2 is the diameter
of the pulley on driven shaft (threshing shaft); 134.4 mm, C is the center-to-center distance (590); mm, 𝐿 = 1518.92 𝑚𝑚 ~ 1520 mm.
When two pulleys of different diameters are connected by a means of an open belt; the angle of contact or lap is thus calculated.

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 Adeleke University Journal of Engineering and Technology, Vol. 5, No. 2, 16 - 28 (2022)
(𝐷2 −𝐷1 )
𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝛽 = (8)
2𝐶

Where: 𝛽 is the angle of contact (3.15°), 𝐷2 is the diameter of the pulley on driven shaft (threshing shaft); mm, 𝐷1 is the diameter of the
pulley on driving shaft (electric motor); mm, and C is the centre-to-centre distance (mm). Therefore, for the smaller pulley the angle of
contact 𝜃 = 173.7°) using 𝜃 = 180 − 2𝛽.

3.3.3 Torque and power transmission

The torque generated by the electric motor was determined based on the power of the electric motor and its speed while the torque acting
on the threshing shaft was calculated based on the power of the motor and the speed of the shaft. The relationship is shown in Equation
9.
60 𝑃
𝜏= (9)
2𝜋𝑁
Where: P is the power (1.5 kW), N is the maximum speed (1440 rpm) and 𝜏 is the torque generated on threshing shaft (𝜏 = 0.00994 𝑁𝑚).

The specific force and speed to thresh the dried rice stalks. Therefore, the relationship between the torque and the threshing force is
shown in Equation 10.

𝑇 = 𝐹𝑟 (10)

Where: T is the torque on the shaft (9.94 Nm); F is the impact force (795.2 N) and r is radius of shaft pulley (12.5 mm). The orthographic
and exploded view of the developed rice thresher were shown in Figures 2.

Figure 2: The orthographic (A) and exploded (B) view of the developed rice thresher

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 Adeleke University Journal of Engineering and Technology, Vol. 5, No. 2, 16 - 28 (2022)

2.3 Evaluation Parameters

The design, fabrication, and evaluation optimization of rice thresher was carried out in the Department of Agricultural and
Environmental Engineering Workshop, The Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria using locally available material. The
developed thresher consists of hopper, threshing chamber, shaft, discharge chute, blower, frame and power transmission system (belt
and pulley). For performance evaluation of the machine, dried un-threshed rice was obtained from rice farmer in Ekiti State, the South
Western region of Nigeria. A known mass (2kg) of un-threshed rice was poured into the machine through the hopper and the threshed
paddy rice grain was discharged through the grains discharge outlet and the chaff was discharged through the chaff discharge outlet.
The mass of the discharge grains and chaff in both outlets and threshing time was measured using digital weighing scale (5kg, 0.1
accuracy) and stopwatch. The performance of the rice thresher which includes the threshing efficiency, cleaning efficiency and threshing
capacity were calculated as reported by Ndirika and Onwualu (2016).
2.3.1 Threshing efficiency (𝑻𝑬 )
Threshing efficiency (𝑇𝐸 ) was determined using Equation 11 as recommended by Ndirika and Onwualu (2016).
𝑄𝑢
𝑇𝐸 = 100 − × 100 (11)
𝑄𝑡
Where: 𝑇𝐸 is the threshing efficiency in percentage, 𝑄𝑢 is the threshed quantity of grains in a sample in kg, and 𝑄𝑡 is the total quantity
of input grains sample (kg).
2.3.2 Cleaning efficiency (𝑪𝑬 )
Cleaning efficiency (𝐶𝐸 ) was determined using Equation 12 as recommended by Ndirika and Onwualu (2016).
(𝑊𝑡−𝑊𝑐 )
𝐶𝐸 = × 100 (12)
𝑊𝑡
Where: 𝐶𝐸 is the cleaning efficiency (%), Wt is the total weight at the outlet (kg) and Wc is the chaff weight at the outlet (kg).
2.3.3 Throughput capacity (𝑻𝑪 )
The machine throughput capacity was determined using Equation 13 as recommended by Ndirika and Onwualu (2016).
𝑄𝑠
𝑇𝐶 = (13)
𝑇

Where: TC is the throughput capacity (kg/h), QS is the quantity of grains collect at the grain outlet (kg) and T is the time taken to thresh
(h).
2.4 Design of Experiment and Analysis of Data
The machine was evaluated under different conditions of blower air velocity (2, 4, and 6 m/s) which was attained using the variable
speed regulator of the blower and confirmed by the anemometer (0.1 m/s accuracy), the variation in the speed of shaft was achieved
using pulley of different diameters (112, 134.4, and 168 mm) while the variation in the moisture contents (8, 12, and 16%) was attained
by adding a calculated amount of quantity water determined from Equation 14 (Mohsenin, 1980). The experiment uses face centered -
composite design with three (3) blower air velocity, three (3) moisture content and three (3) machine speeds resulting in a total of 20
runs as shown Table 1. The data was processed in Microsoft Excel 2016 and analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) with a
tolerance rate (α) of 0.05. Regression analysis was used to model the dependent variable as function of independent variable and the
optimum machine performance and operational conditions were determined using response surface methodology (RSM) on Design
Expert Software Version 11. The numerical optimization of the rice thresher was carried out by super-positioning of the different
responses (threshing efficiency, cleaning efficiency and machine capacity).
𝑊1 − 𝑊2
𝑀= × 100 (14)
𝑊2

Where: M is the crop moisture content (%), W1 is the weight of grains before oven-drying (kg), and W2 is the weight of grains after
oven-drying (kg).

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Table 1: Experimental Design Runs

SN Moisture content (%) Machine speed (rpm) Air velocity (m/s)

1 8 600 2
2 16 600 2
3 12 600 4
4 8 600 6
5 16 600 6
6 12 750 2
7 8 750 4
8 12 750 4
9 12 750 4
10 12 750 4
11 12 750 4
12 12 750 4
13 12 750 4
14 16 750 4
15 12 750 6
16 8 900 2
17 16 900 2
18 12 900 4
19 8 900 6
20 16 900 6

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Machine Capacity
The machine capacity of the rice thresher for the rice paddy ranges from 83.92 - 187.5 kg/h. The maximum value (187.5kg/h) for the
machine capacity of the rice thresher was recorded at moisture content of 16%, machine speed of 750 rpm and air velocity of 4 m/s. The
highest capacity recorded for the rice thresher was notably higher than the maximum value (90 kg/h) reported by Mutai et al. (2018) for
the pedal powered paddy rice thresher, and the difference in this result might be due to the low energy dissipated to the system by the
power source and the design configuration (Fu et al., 2018), meanwhile, the minimum value (83.92kg/h) for the machine capacity of
the rice thresher was recorded at moisture content of 8 %, machine speed of 600 rpm and air velocity of 6 m/s.
However, Figure 3 shows the graphical representation (Contour and 3D plot) of the machine capacity of the developed rice thresher at
different moisture content, machine speed and air velocity. According to the linear relationship between the dependant variable (machine
capacity) and independent variable (moisture content, machine speed and air velocity), a unit increase in the moisture content, machine
speed, air velocity resulted to an average increase in the machine capacity of the rice thresher by 3.2848, 0.1473, 0.0295 kg/h
respectively. The mathematical relationship between the machine capacity and the input parameters (moisture content, machine speed,
air velocity) is shown in Equations 15 and 16 with a coefficient of determination (R²) 0.9001 and this shows that the equation can
significantly (P<0.05) predict about 90.01% change in the machine capacity as a function of moisture content, machine speed and air
velocity
𝑇𝑐 = −12.2624 + 3.2848𝑚 + 0.1473𝑆 + 0.0295𝑉 (15)
𝑇𝑐 = −1.05𝑥10³ + 16.52𝑚 + 2.8𝑆 − 9.63𝑉 − 7.30𝑥10ˉ³𝑚𝑆 + 0.03𝑚𝑉 − 0.33𝑚² − 1.71𝑥10ˉ³𝑆² + 1.23𝑉² (16)
Where: Tc is the machine capacity, m is moisture content (%), S is machine speed (rpm) and V is air velocity (m/s).
Table 2 shows the result of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the machine capacity. The combination of moisture content, machine
speed, and air velocity can significantly explain the variation in the machine capacity at 95% probability level. However, the change in
the machine capacity significantly (P<0.05) depends on the machine speed with fisher’s value (F) of 30.74 and probability value (P) of
0.0002 followed by moisture content with fisher’s value (F) of 10.87 and probability value (P) of 0.0081 and the air velocity has the
least effect on the machine capacity of the rice thresher with lowest fisher’s value (F) of 0.0002 and highest probability value of 0.9885.

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 Adeleke University Journal of Engineering and Technology, Vol. 5, No. 2, 16 - 28 (2022)

Figure 3: Effect of machine speed, moisture content and air velocity on the machine capacity of the rice thresher
Table 2: Analysis of variance for the machine capacity of the rice thresher

Sum of
df Mean Square F-value p-value
Source Squares Remark
Model 14307.660 9 1589.740 10.010 0.0006 Significant
A-Moisture content 1726.360 1 1726.360 10.870 0.0081
B-Machine speed 4882.700 1 4882.700 30.740 0.0002
C-Air velocity 0.035 1 0.035 0.000 0.9885

3.2 Threshing Efficiency

Figure 4 shows the graphical representation (Contour and 3D plot) of the threshing efficiency of the developed rice thresher under
different moisture content, machine speed and air velocity. The threshing efficiency of the developed thresher for the rice paddy ranges
from 64.44 - 92.61%. The maximum value of the threshing efficiency of the thresher (92.61%) was recorded at moisture content,
machine speed and air velocity of 16%, 750 rpm and 4 m/s respectively. Adewumi et al. (2007), reported the highest threshing efficiency
of 99.76% at a machine speed of 1400 rpm and the higher efficiency might be due to higher speed in this study. A multi-crop thresher
was developed and evaluated by Singh et al. (2015), who found that increasing the machine speed have high effect on the threshing
efficiency. A paddy thresher was fabricated and evaluated at three threshing speeds (15.5, 17.3, and 19.0 m/s) and the results revealed
that the percentage of threshing efficiency increased with increasing drum speed for all other operational condition (Azhar, 1995). The
Increase in the threshing efficiency because of increased machine speed is as a result of high level of impact force in the spikes on the
threshing shaft (Abdeen et al., 2021). However, the minimum value (64.44%) for the threshing efficiency of the thresher was recorded
at moisture content, machine speed and air velocity of 8%, 600 rpm and 6 m/s respectively. This shows that the machine speed is
necessary for improving thresher performance although the extreme speed can cause grain crack but a low speed can result low threshing
efficiency (Abdeen et al., 2021). A unit increase in the moisture content, and machine speed resulted in an average increase in the
threshing efficiency of the rice thresher by 1.0847%, and 0.0433% respectively whereas a unit increase in the air velocity resulted in an
average decrease in the threshing efficiency by 0.0685 % as shown in Equation 17. The polynomial relationship between the threshing
efficiency and the input parameters (moisture content, machine speed, and air velocity) is shown in Equation 18 with a coefficient of
determination (R²) of 0.7683. This shows that the equation can significantly (P<0.05) predict about 76.83% change in the threshing
efficiency as a function of moisture content, machine speed and air velocity.
𝐸 = 30.6175 + 1.0847𝑚 + 0.0433𝑆 − 0.0685𝑉 (17)
𝐸 = −138.73 + 0.44𝑚 + 0.55𝑆 − 8.29𝑉 + 1.38𝑥10ˉ³𝑚𝑆 + 0.03𝑚𝑉 + 1.75𝑥10ˉ⁴𝑆𝑉 − 0.02𝑚² + 0.96𝑉² (18)
Where: E is the threshing efficiency, m is moisture content (%), S is machine speed (rpm) and V is air velocity (m/s).
Table 2 shows the result of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the threshing efficiency. The combination of moisture content, machine
speed, air velocity and can significantly explain the variation in the threshing efficiency at 95% probability level. However, the change
in the threshing efficiency significantly (P<0.05) depends on the machine speed followed by moisture content and air velocity has the
least significant effect on the threshing efficiency of the rice thresher. The impact is the main threshing action for grain separating from
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 Adeleke University Journal of Engineering and Technology, Vol. 5, No. 2, 16 - 28 (2022)
the ear. In all threshers, this impact force is controlled by the thresher rotating speed (Chabrol et al, 2015). The threshing efficiency was
positively affected by the cylinder speed, the concave clearance, the crop feeding rate, and the crop variety (Helmy et al., 2000).

Figure 4: Effect of machine speed, air velocity and machine speed on the threshing efficiency of the rice thresher

Table 2: Analysis of variance for the threshing efficiency of the rice thresher

Source Sum of df Mean F-value p-value Remark

Model 829.915 9 92.2127 3.6840 0.0271 Significant
A-Moisture content 188.269 1 188.2692 7.5215 0.0207
B-Machine speed 421.071 1 421.0712 16.8220 0.0021
C-Air velocity 0.188 1 0.1877 0.0075 0.9327

3.3 Cleaning Efficiency

The cleaning efficiency of the rice thresher for the rice paddy ranges from 55.75 - 97.92%. The maximum value (97.92%) for the
cleaning efficiency of the rice thresher was recorded at moisture content of 8%, machine speed of 600 rpm and air velocity of 6 m/s,
The highest capacity recorded for the rice thresher agrees with the maximum value (97 %) reported in Fu et al. (2018) for the motorized
paddy rice thresher. Obtaining the highest cleaning efficiency at the lowest machine speed agrees with the findings deduces of Abdeen
et al. (2018), the study claims the threshing efficiency is enhanced with the increase in the shaft speed which generate higher impact
force and create higher air stream that improve the fluidization of the threshed grain and ease its removal with chaff at higher air velocity.
The minimum value (55.75%) for the cleaning efficiency of the rice thresher was recorded at moisture content of 16 %, machine speed
of 900 rpm and air velocity of 2 m/s. However, Figure 5 shows the graphical representation (Contour and 3D plot) of the cleaning
efficiency of the developed rice thresher at different moisture content, machine speed and air velocity

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Figure 5: Effect of machine speed, moisture content and air velocity on the cleaning efficiency of the rice thresher

According to the linear relationship between the dependant variable (cleaning efficiency) and independent variable (moisture content,
machine speed and air velocity), a unit increase in the air velocity resulted in an average increase in the cleaning efficiency by 5.4246
%, whereas a unit increase in the moisture content, and machine speed resulted in an average decrease in the cleaning efficiency of the
rice thresher by 1.8966 % and 0.0217 % respectively The linear relationship in equation 19 shows an accuracy level of 76.03% while
the remaining 23.97% might be due to some non-linearity between the variables and some other variables that was not considered in
this study.
𝐶𝐸 = 91.4031 − 1.8966𝑚 − 0.0217𝑆 + 5.4246𝑉 (19)
The mathematical relationship between the cleaning efficiency and the input parameters (moisture content, machine speed, and air
velocity) is shown in equation 21 with a coefficient of determination (R²) is 0.9381 and this shows that the equation can significantly
(P<0.05) predict about 93.81% change in the cleaning efficiency as a function of moisture content, machine speed and air velocity
𝐶𝐸 = −135.73 + 1.48𝑚 + 0.45𝑆 + 21.87𝑉 − 5.03𝑥10ˉ³𝑚𝑆 − 0.29𝑚𝑉 − 0.02𝑆𝑉 + 0.06𝑚² − 1.93𝑥10ˉ³𝑉² (19)
Where: CE is the cleaning efficiency, m is moisture content (%), S is machine speed (rpm) and V is air velocity (m/s)
Table 3 shows the result of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the cleaning efficiency. The combination of moisture content, machine
speed, air velocity and can significantly explain the variation in the cleaning efficiency at 95% probability level. However, the change
in the cleaning efficiency significantly (P<0.05) depends on the air velocity with fishers value (F) of 77.8009 and probability value (P)
of 0 followed by moisture content with fishers value (F) of 38.0392 and probability value (P) of 0.0001 and the machine speed has the
least effect on the cleaning efficiency of the rice thresher with lowest fishers value (F) of 6.9862 and highest probability value of 0.0246.

Table 3: Analysis of variance for the cleaning efficiency of the rice thresher

Source Sum of df Mean F-value p-value Remark

Model 2292.7192 9 254.747 16.839 6.46E-05 significant
A-Moisture content 575.4740 1 575.474 38.039 0.0001
B-Machine speed 105.6900 1 105.690 6.986 0.0246
C-Air velocity 1177.0080 1 1177.008 77.801 4.96E-06

3.4 Optimal Machine Performance

Table 4 shows that the optimum solution was attained by maximizing the machine capacity, threshing efficiency and cleaning efficiency.
The experimental result was taking as the range of optimality. The responses optimally range between of 83.92 - 187.50 kg/h, 64.44 -
92.61%, and 55.75 - 97.92% for the machine capacity, threshing efficiency and cleaning efficiency respectively with independent
variable in the range of 8% - 16%, 600 rpm – 900 rpm and 2.0 m/s - 6.0 m/s for the moisture content, machine speed and air velocity
respectively. All the responses (threshing capacity, threshing efficiency, and cleaning efficiency) shows an optimal quadratic relationship
with the input parameters. The obtained optimal machine parameter for the rice thresher are moisture content of 13.08%, machine speed
of 768.56 rpm, and air velocity of 6.00 m/s as depicted in by the ramp plot shown in Figure 6. Table 5 shows the optimal solutions of

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 Adeleke University Journal of Engineering and Technology, Vol. 5, No. 2, 16 - 28 (2022)
the rice thresher and the obtained optimum machine performance values for the rice thresher are 167.30 kg/h, 83.66% and 83.14% for
the machine capacity, threshing efficiency, and cleaning efficiency respectively, with the highest desirability of 70.9%.

Table 4: Optimal goal and range of optimality of the rice thresher

Lower Upper Lower Upper
Name Goal Importance
Limit Limit Weight Weight
A: Moisture content is in range 8.00 16.00 1 1 3
B: Machine speed is in range 600.00 900.00 1 1 3
C: Air velocity is in range 2.00 6.00 1 1 3
Machine capacity maximize 83.92 187.50 1 1 3
Threshing efficiency maximize 64.44 92.61 1 1 3
cleaning efficiency maximize 55.75 97.92 1 1 3

Figure 6: Ramp plot for the optimal performance of the rice thresher

4. CONCLUSION
A rice threshing machine has been designed and fabricated using locally available materials. The machine capacity, threshing efficiency,
and cleaning efficiency of the developed rice thresher ranges from 83.92 kg/h - 187.5 kg/h, 64.44 % - 92.61 %, and 55.75 % - 97.92 %,
respectively. The results showed that the optimal machine and operation parameter for the rice thresher were moisture content of 13.08%,
machine speed of 768.56 rpm, and air velocity of 6.00 m/s while the optimum machine performance for the developed rice seed thresher
were 167.30 kg/h, 83.66% and 83.14% for the machine capacity, threshing efficiency, and cleaning efficiency respectively, with the
highest desirability value of 70.9%. Therefore, Optimum operational condition for rice threshing with higher capacity, efficiency and
reduce grain loss.

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Table 5 Optimal performance of the rice thresher with different desirability
Moisture Machine Air Machine Threshing cleaning
S/N content speed velocity capacity efficiency efficiency Desirability Remark
1 13.08 768.56 6.00 167.30 83.66 83.14 0.709 Selected
2 12.69 776.37 6.00 166.77 83.44 83.56 0.709
3 12.24 774.40 6.00 165.38 82.87 84.84 0.708
4 13.96 760.02 6.00 168.55 84.33 81.67 0.708
5 12.06 771.28 6.00 164.63 82.58 85.50 0.707
6 13.99 771.06 6.00 169.48 84.76 80.79 0.707
7 11.94 766.35 6.00 163.82 82.28 86.15 0.706
8 14.51 765.81 6.00 170.02 85.14 80.01 0.706
9 14.78 759.74 6.00 169.93 85.19 79.87 0.705
10 14.22 747.52 6.00 167.58 84.06 81.96 0.704
11 11.56 785.49 6.00 163.70 82.30 85.87 0.704
12 11.32 774.40 6.00 162.32 81.77 87.26 0.703
13 15.16 755.96 6.00 170.07 85.42 79.35 0.702
14 15.30 758.29 6.00 170.47 85.67 78.87 0.701
15 15.39 758.08 6.00 170.54 85.75 78.70 0.701
16 15.70 754.53 6.00 170.49 85.90 78.34 0.699
17 10.23 787.36 6.00 158.68 80.68 89.47 0.693
18 12.03 725.17 6.00 157.53 80.47 88.15 0.677
19 16.00 712.73 6.00 163.52 83.66 80.62 0.676
20 8.97 763.33 6.00 150.89 78.53 94.47 0.667

Acknowledgment

Authors appreciate the entire Department of Agricultural & Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering and Engineering
Technology, The Federal University of Technology Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria.

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