Title of Invention

"A MACHINE FOR DECORTICATING GROUNDNUT SEEDS"

Abstract

An improved machine for decorticating of groundnut seeds which comprises a feed hopper (2) with feed control wheel(3) fixed above a rotating belt feeder(21), the belt feeder being mounted on shafts connected to a geared motor(l), characterized in that a seed guide(22) being provided below the said belt feeder and above a corrugated roller(17) for rotating in clock wise direction at variable speeds by a motor (12), the said motor being fixed on a stand(20) below the said corrugated roller(17), the said corrugated roller(17) being provided with a pivoted(19) concave arm(16) which being fitted with a corrugated screen(ll) having a matching profile, the free end of the said concave arm(16) fitted with the corrugated screen(ll) being provided with a shaft(13), lever(14), cam follower(15) supported by body(18) for controlling the gap between the said roller(17) and screen (11), and exit chute(23) for kernels and exit pipe(24) for hulls being provided below the screen(11), an overload releasing mechanism (4-10) being provided below the said seed guide(22).

Full Text

The present invention relates toj^nachine for decorticating groundnut seeds. This invention particularly relates to an improved groundnut decorticating machine with feed now, control system to obtain the decorticated seed (kernel) where surface corrugations on the roller and concave screen are of special contour similar to the profile of seeds. The minimum gap between the nearest point of the surface of corrugated roller and screen can be adjusted according to space required to grip and press the seed The machine of the present invention is useful for decorticating of assorted size of (without grading) groundnut seeds. The mam usage of this invention is to overcome difficulties of decorticating groundnut seeds having mainly the following characteristics. i) Seeds having different surface and volume contour. ii) Seeds having different shell thickness, iii) Minimum broken kernel percentage. The US Patent Data base from 1976 to 1998 was searched Reference may be made to U^J>at^NoJ218.89? titled "High Efficiency Centrifugal Decorticator of oil grains which covers the improvement made over earlier centrifugal decorticator. It provides the decorticating action by ejecting a stream of grains to collide against an impact surface. The High Efficiency Centrifugal Decorticator of oil grains was mainly concentrated to the Sunflower grains. It may be useful for similar type of grain such as sunflower, soya, saffiower. However, this improved impact decorticator may not be suitable for Groundnut The reasons are two fold. Firstly, the force required to decorticate groundnut is three times more man the sunflower. Secondly, only impact may not be adequate for this purpose, since the groundnut kernel is enclosed by a cover known as hulls, which is harder than sunflower. As such centrifugal (impact) type of decorticating machine is expected to provide low percentage of decortication. In the improved centrifugal decorticator, it receives the impact only in edges where grains are positioned on perpendicular to the impact band. AM such it is of considerable importance to have a device which would provide the desired decortication action to decorticate groundnut In the Figure-1 of the drawings accompanying this specification a grate type decorticator available in the market, which is widely used for decorticating groundnut seeds is shown. The pods are fed through feeder (F) to enter the drum (D) of the machine and are rolled against a grate (O) by revolving crushing plates © encompass channel grooves on the external surface. The seeds are dehulled in this operation. The subsequent operation of separating Kernel (K) and husk (H) is done by means of blower (B). The beater-grate type decorticator based on compression of seeds with the casing and attrition between seeds thus producing very less impact and shear force between seeds and plates which provide very less dehulhng area. As such, dehulling efficiency appears to be very poor. Besides, they have maximum capacity limitation upto 1 to 1.5 MT/hr. In tins type, it is not at all easy to scale up the design of such decorticator to desirable extent due to engineering difficulties. As such the capacity cannot be increased more than 2000 Kg/hr. The present invention has been realized to overcome the limitation of the prior art as mentioned, mainly to reduce the breakage of seeds, to increase the machine capacity, to apply the force of compact, impact and shear to properly positioned seeds. Finally, to accommodate in the same machine different kinds of seeds (single, double and triple seeded mixture) to produce a quality decortication. The main object of the present invention is to provide a machine for decorticating groundnut seeds which obviates die drawbacks as detailed above. Another object of the present invention is to provide a groundnut decorticator having the surface of roller corrugated in the profiles resembling like the profile of groundnut and to develop a suitable single roll decorticator having gap adjustment mechanism to adjust the gap between roll and screen which k suitable for high capacity quality dchulling and would consume less power. Still another object is to provide a decorticator which provides proper shear force apart from suitable compression and impact to perform desired defaulting. Yet another object, is to provide a high capacity decorticator based on single roll concept which provide the desired dehuUing action viz. shear, compression and impact and capable of processing assorted size (without grading) of seeds just by changing gap. The even distribution of seeds of dehuller provides best dehuUing performance. It is also important to use correct speed and screen aperture. Energy costs in dehuUing plays an important role in selecting suitable decorticator. Groundnut hulls have two symmetrical shell-shaped parts. The decortkaticm can be achkved by mechanical action against a solid surface with grains placed in such a way that the edges are on a horizontal plane to the impact surface. Thus the two shells of hulls will separate. The hulls are abraded against the corrugated surface of the concave screen with corrugated roller surface in the invention of present decorticator. hi the drawings accompanying mis specification the figures are as foUows : Fig.2 General assembly of the machine of the present invention Fig.3(a) Corrugated roller surface Fig.3(b) Representative profile of corrugated roller surface. Fig. 4 Surface corrugation on screen In the figures the various numbered parts are as under : 1. Geared motor 2. Hopper 3. Feed control wheel 4. Fixing Plate '5. Lever 6. Spring holder 7. Spring 8. Spring holder 9. Axle 10. Bracket 11. Concave corrugated screen 12. Motor 13. Shaft 14. Lever 15. Cam follower 16. Concave arm 17. Corrugated roller 18. Body 19. Shafts 20. Stand 21. Belt feeder 22. Seed guide 23. An exit chute for kennels 24. Exit pipe for hulls. Accordingly the present invention provides In embodiment of the present invention the surface of the roller is corrugated in the shape matching the profile of the groundnut seeds to be decorticated. In another embodiment of the present invention the machine has concave corrugated screen having surface corrugated in the shape snatching the profile of the groundnut seeds to be decorticated. In yet another embodiments of the present invention the corrugated screen is provided with apertures which allow the separated not along with hulls to be dropped through screen aperture to the exit chute. In yet another embodiment of the present invention the machine is provided with an overload releasing mechanism (4-10). In another embodiment of the present invention a blower is provided for separating the hulls from the nuts. The complete description of the functioning of the machine of the present invention is as follows: In Fig. 2 of the drawings a Feed Hopper (2) is placed vertically above a belt feeder (21), which is driven by 1 HP, geared motor (1). A feed flow control device (3) is fettled at one side of the Hopper (2). The seeds continuously enter into the Hopper of the belt feeder which distributes the seeds uniformly over the length of the corrugated screen with the help of the non-segregating chute connected to the bucket elevator. The belt feeder is operated by the geared motor (1) and feeds the seeds in layer wise fashion into the screen. The decorticator has a corrugated roller (17) having suitable profiles cut on the rolter periphery, rotating a suitable speed in proper direction in relation with the concave. corrugated screen (11) so that seeds are pulled to the screen. The overload releasing mechanism consists of a lever (5) fitted in die bracket (10X an axle (9) k pivoted on the lever (5), a compression spring (7) is fitted between a fixed spring holder, (6) and an adjustable spring holder (8) at the ends to keep the spring (7) in position in the axle (9). A nut in the bracket (1) hold* the axle (9) through the adjustable spring holder (8). The adjustable spring holder (8) can be adjusted for the spring loading. The gap adjustment device for adjusting the gap between corrugated roller (17) and concave corrugated screen (11) consists of two concave arms (16) pivoted at one end through pivot shaft (19) supported at both ends, and the other end of the concave arm (16) is movable for creating desired gap through a cam follower (15) connected to lever (14) and shaft (13) which is supported at both ends in the body (18). The corrugated roller is driven by a 10 HP motor (12) placed on the motor stand (20). The roller rotates over the fixed screen to give suitable dehulling force to the seeds for decorticttion. The required gap between the toiler and the screen is maintained so that the desired dehulling performance can be achieved. In this unit, a gap adjusting mechanism is provided by pivoting one end and freeing the other end of the concave arm for gap adjustment between corrugated roller and concave corrugated screen with the heip of a lever-cam device. The desired dehulling action by shear, compact and impact is provided by the rotary motion of corrugated roller over the concave corrugated screen. During the rotary motion the corrugated roller helps to pull the seed in downward direction over the concave corrugated screen. The seeds are fed continuously through the hopper with the help of a bucket elevator and non-segregating chute which helps to distribute me seeds uniformly to the hopper. The belt feeder, men conveys the seeds in layer-wise fashion into the dehulling zone of the rofler length. The belt feeder also helps to feed the seeds uniformly along the length of the roller. The material which passes through the screen is discharged from me exit chute (23) after blowing off hulls by blower from exit pipe (24). As previously described the essence of the invention is to provide a device which could process assorted size of seeds. This is accomplished in accordance with the invention by providing a corrugated concave screen and a gap adjustment device. The bigger size of the seed are decorticated in the upper zone where gap it more and lower size of seeds towards the end part of screen. In order to ensure the homogenous distribution of seeds on the screen, the invention contemplates the use of belt feeder. From the previous description, it emerges that one of principal functional advantages of the present invention is to provide that the seeds decorticate between the corrugated rotating roller and corrugated concave arm. This causes that an instant shear, impact and compact is applied on the seeds. These condition facilitate separation of die hulls shells from the kernel It follows from the above that the position and organization of the seed is such that they decorticate in layer wise fashion and not colliding one another. These condition are obtained with the present invention since each seed emerges from die feeder at a differential of time relative to me following seed. The following typical examples corresponding to normal seeds were calculated on the basis of indicative trial taken in our Institute with this Decorticator at different speed. The moisture content of the seed was 8%, a normal value. The single, double and triple seeded mixture was used (Table Removed) The above examples are given by way of illustration of die present invention and should not be construed to limit the scope of the present invention. As such die specification of die machine is : Capacity (Average) (Based on seed input) : 2MT/hr. % Decorticated (including Broken) : 93 to 95% % Broken : 3 to 8% The mam advantages of the present invention are: 1. Seeds having different surface and volume contours can be processed. 2. Seeds having different thickness of shell can be processed. 3. Quality of decortication is improved due to reduced rate of breakage of seeds during processing. 4. The machine can handle large amount of raw materials, this is a high capacity machine. 5. The machine can be used for different kinds of seeds. 6. The power consumption is economical for higher capacity of production. 7. This is very compact machine. 8. Single roller concept provides quality dehulling of seeds. 9. Change of speed and gap are easily performed. We Claim: 1. An improved machine for decorticating of groundnut seeds which comprises a feed hopper (2) with feed control wheel(3) fixed above a rotating belt feeder(21), the belt feeder being mounted on shafts connected to a geared motor(l), characterized in that a seed guide(22) being provided below the said belt feeder and above a corrugated roller(17) for rotating in clock wise direction at variable speeds by a motor (12), the said motor being fixed on a stand(20) below the said corrugated roller(17), the said corrugated roller(17) being provided with a pivoted(19) concave arm(16) which being fitted with a corrugated screen(ll) having a matching profile, the free end of the said concave arm(16) fitted with the corrugated screen(ll) being provided with a shaft(13), lever(14), cam follower(15) supported by body(18) for controlling the gap between the said roller(17) and screen (11), and exit chute(23) for kernels and exit pipe(24) for hulls being provided below the screen(ll), an overload releasing mechanism (4-10) being provided below the said seed guide(22). 2. A machine as claimed in claims 1-3, wherein the corrugated screen is provided with aperture which allows the separated nuts along with hulls to be dropped through screen aperture to the exit chute. . 3 A machine as claimed in claims 1-4, wherein a blower is provided for separating the hulls from the nuts. 4 A machine for decorticating groundnut seeds substantially as herein described with reference to the sips 2-4 of the drawings accompanying this specification.

Documents:

11-del-2001-abstract.pdf

11-del-2001-claims.pdf

11-del-2001-correspondence-others.pdf

11-del-2001-correspondence-po.pdf

11-del-2001-description (complete).pdf

11-del-2001-drawings.pdf

11-del-2001-form-1.pdf

11-del-2001-form-19.pdf

11-del-2001-form-2.pdf

11-del-2001-form-3.pdf