Construction and Performance Evaluation of a Solar Powered Maize Sheller for Rural Farmers

Abstract

The objective of this work is to construct a simple and affordable maize shelling machine that is powered by solar energy. The method adopted involves the selection of a direct current (DC) operated motor which consumes less power and is locally available. Based on the available motor, the mechanical part is fabricated to work with the motor. Direct coupling method is adopted between the motor and the mechanical part. The improvement in this work is the introduction of a sustainable and affordable powering method. Design calculation has suggested the use of an 80-watt solar panel. A battery of 18Ah capacity is used as storage to cushion the effect of the intermittent nature of the sun. Test carried out on the sheller shows that it has the ability to shell 17.25 kg of kernel in one hour. It has also been shown that the developed device has an efficiency of 89.61%. The total production cost of this sheller (together with the solar power system) is approximately sixty thousand naira (N60,000.00/$167).