Optimisation of the parameters related to sunflower seed shelling

Abstract

In this study shelling of sunflower seed (Co 2 variety) was carried out in a centrifugal dehusker and the various crop and machine parameters were optimized by evaluating the performance of the centrifugal dehusker. The parameters studied were moisture content of the seed at 4 levels viz. 6.5, 9, 12 and 15 per cent (w.b.), peripheral speed of the impeller at 4 levels viz. 1700, 2000, 2300 and 2600 m/min., radius of curvature of the vanes at 4 levels viz 6. 8, 10 and 12 cm and the number of vanes in the impeller at 3 levels viz. 3, 4 and 5 number of vanes. The feed rate was maintained throughout the study as 60 kg hr-1. All the parameters chosen for the study were found to be significant and their interactions were also significant statistically. The maximum shelling efficiency was obtained as 87.72 per cent at a moisture content of 6.5 per cent (w.b.) of the seeds with 4 number of vanes in the impeller, 8 cm radius of curvature of the vanes in the impeller and at a peripheral speed of 2600 m/min. The shelling efficiency was almost same (87.64 per cent) with 5 number of vanes and 12 cm radius of curvature of the vanes for the above said mositure content of the seed and peripheral speed of the impeller.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.29321/MAJ.10.A00308

Pages

83 - 85

Creative Commons

Copyright

© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Madras Agricultural Students' Union in Madras Agricultural Journal (MAJ). This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited by the user.

Keywords