Fabrication and Performance Evaluation of a Thevetia Nut Cracking Machine
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Date
2015
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Faculty of Engineering and Technology, University of Ilorin, Nigeria
Abstract
Thevetia seed contains about 64 percent of non-edible oil in its oily kernel and this oil can be used for various
purposes such as biofuel and bio-oil; making of paints, insecticides, cosmetics, lubricants and cooling oil in electrical
transformers. The cakes obtained after oil extraction are incorporated on the field as manure. In order to get quality oil kernels
from the hard nuts, there is need to properly crack them; this process of cracking is still a great challenge. As result of the
aforementioned problem, this work focused on the design, fabrication and performance evaluation of a thevetia nut cracking
machine. The machine works based on the principle of attrition force. Some of the parts designed for were diameter of shaft (13
mm solid shaft) and length of belt (A55), power required to operate the machine (2.5 hp), speed of operation (9.14 m/s) and the
appropriate dimension of angle iron bar of 45 mm × 45 mm × 3 mm was used for the structural support. The fabrication was
done systematically followed by the performance evaluation of the machine. The result of the overall cracking efficiency and
throughput capacity of the machine were evaluated to be 96.65 % and 510 g⁄min respectively.
Description
Keywords
thevetia nut, thevetia kernel, design, attrition, overall cracking efficiency