Effect of Varied Pulleys on A Centrifugal Palm Kernel Cracker

Abstract

This paper is based on the performance evaluation of centrifugal palm kernel cracker for small, medium and large scale firms that deals with the cracking of palm kernel nut to meet market requirement. The cracking machine has hopper, the cracking chamber which incorporates the shaft and flange, the outlet, electric motor, belt and pulleys. The performance of the machine was evaluated by considering the cracking time and the shaft speed. The machine was modified by introducing four pulleys with diameters of 200mm, 250mm, 300mm, and 350mm, which produced rotor speeds of 936rpm, 749rpm, 624rpm and 535rpm respectively. The rotor speeds were then used to test the designed machine and its efficiency were evaluated. The machine has cracking chamber, which flap the palm kernel nuts on the stationary hard surface. The designed machine was operated by 15hp electric motor. The result showed that the cracking efficiency was highest at 936rpm with efficiency of 53% for a time taken of 38sec to crack effectively.