DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF A PALM KERNEL CRACKING MACHINE ;. BY DIKEOCHA NKIRUKA OLIVE 2006124481EM DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, MINNA, NIGERIA NOVEMBER 2010
DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF A PALM KERNEL CRACKING MACHINE '" BY DIKEOCHA NKIRUKA OLIVE ". 2006/24481EM A PROJECT REPORT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING (B.Eng) DEGREE IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING, SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, MINNA, NIGERIA NOVEMBER 2010
DECLARATION I hereby declare (or affirm) that this research work, titled "Design and Fabrication of a Palm Kernel Cracking Machine" has not been presented wholly or in part for the award of any degree elsewhere. Information derived from personal communication, published and unpublished works of other persons have been duly acknowledged in this thesis. Dikeocka Nkiruka Olive ~... ~.... 2006/24481 EM Signature Date ii
CERTIFICATION This research project title,"design and Fabrication of a Palm Kernel Cracking Machine", carried out by "Dikeocha Nkiruka Olive" has been read and approved having met the requirement for the award of Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng) Degree in Mechanical Engineering, of the Federal University of Technology, Minna. Project Supervisor..... ~ 0 1- l'l- Signature and D"Jr Head of department Signature and Date External Examiner Signature and Date iii
I DEDICATION This project is dedicated to God Almighty, the creator and giver of wisdom and knowledge who has been extremely wonderful and good to me and has taken me thus far in life. I am also dedicating this project to my uncle Mr. Ogbenna Ndubueze who helped me through my project, financially and otherwise, may Almighty God meet his every needs. iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.. My profound gratitude goes to the Almighty God, the creator of the universe, for his love, provision and protection through the period of my study. I am greatly indebted to my beloved supervisor, Engr. Onuoha, for his endless support and assistance during the course of this work. My sincere appreciation goes to the Dean of Engineering, Professor Abolarin, Head of Department, Professor R. Khan, my Level Adviser, Dr. Ogwuoke Ikechukwu Celestine, and all the lecturers and staffs of Mechanical Engineering Department for the effective training given to me right from the start of my study. Special thanks goes to my one in a zillion, loving parents, Mr and Mrs Joseph Dikeocha, and my beloved younger,sister, Dikeocha Esther and loving elder brothers, Augustus and '. Richard Dikeocha for their countless support in every areas of my life. They are the best ever. Lastly, I cannot but acknowledge my course mates, friends and those that have made great impacts in my life, and have been there through thick and thin, Sofuwa Olasunkanmi, Adeyole Mobolaji, Miss Lami Ahmed, Mr Yakubu Ahmed, Ibrahim Idowu, Sokodam Pankshin,Oladeji Ajuwon, Ubi Pascal and others too numerous too much but never forgotten. May God bless them abundantly. v
ABSTRACT This work entails the construction of a better model of palm kernel cracking machine. Studying the existing crackers and their limitations as stated in the literature review it was observed that the existing crackers have so many setbacks, some of the crackers cannot crack all the varieties of palm kernel nut at the same time (the crackers are selective), this could be due to their various shapes and sizes but this new machine can effectively crack varieties of kernel nut no matter the sizes or shapes. The palm kernel cracking machine is power driven and it is constructed so as to increase efficiency of cracking the nuts, reduce accidents during operation and minimize the expending of time during the process. From the design, it was concluded that this project would considerably improve the productivity of palm kernel nut cracking not only in Nigeria but also in other countries where palm kernel nuts are being produced. It has an efficiency of 75.5 %. vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS COVER PAGE TITLE PAGE DECLARATION CERTIFICATION DEDICATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ABSTRACT TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES 11 III IV v VI VlI XlI Xlll CHAPTER ONE 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY 1.2 ORIGIN OF THE OIL PALM 1.3 PROCESSING OF PALM KERNEL 1.3.1 Traditional Method of Palm Kernel Extraction 1..3.2 Harvesting Technique and Handling Effects 1.3.3 Bunch Reception 1.3.4 Threshing (Removal of Fruit from the Bunches) 1.3.5 Sterilization of Bunches 1.3.6 Digestion of the Fruit 9 ' 11 11 12 13 vii
1.3.7 Pressing (Extracting the Palm Oil) 14 1.3.7.1 Batch Presses 14 l.3.7.2 Continuous System 15 l.3.8 Nut/Fibre Recovery 16 l.3.9 Nut Drying 16 1.4 NUT CRACKING 16 1.4.1 Kernel Separation 16 1.4.2 Kernel Storage 17 1.5 USES OF PALM KERNELS 17 l.6 RESEARCH PROBLEM 19 1.7 JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY 19 1.8 SIGNIFICANT OF THE STUDY 20 1.9 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 20 1.10 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY 20 CHAPTER TWO 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 TRADITIONAL METHODS 21 2.l.1 Stone Arrangement Method 21' 2.1.2 Mortar and Pestle Method 22 2.2 MODERN METHODS 22 2.2.1 Manual Nut Cracking Machine 23 2.2.2 Hammer Mill Method 24 2.2.3 Air Operated Nut Cracker 24
2.2.4 The Rotary Decorticator 24 2.2.5 Semi- Rotary Decorticator 25 2.2.6 Roller Cracker 25 CHAPTER THREE 3.0 MATERIALS AND METHOD 27 3.1 DESCRIPTION OF THE MACHINE 27, 3.1.1 The Hopper 27 3.1.2 Cracking Chamber 27 3.1.3 Shaft 27 3.1.4 Bearing 28 3.1.5 Bearing Housing 28 3.1.6 Pulley 28 3.1.7 The Belt 28 3.1.8 The Cracking Mechanism 28 3.2 DESIGN CONSIDERATION 28 3.3 DESIGN ANALYSIS 29 3.3.1 Power Transmission and Shaft Design Analysis 31 3.3.2 Selection of Belt ~nsion 33' 3.3.3 Bearing Selection Analysis 37 3.3.4 Shaft Design Analysis 38 3.3.5 Key Design Analysis 40 3.3.5.1 Design of a Rectangular Key 41 3.4 DESIGN CALCULATIONS 42 ix
3.4.1 Determination of the Velocity at which The Nut Enters The Cracking Mechanism 42 3.4.2 Determination of the Velocity of the Palm Kernel Nut 42 3.4.3 Determination of the Cracking Force, F 42 3.4.4 Determination of Speed of Shaft 42 3.4.5 Determination of the Power Transmitted by the Shaft to the Cracking Mechanism 43 3.4.6 Determination of Power Loss due to Friction 43 3.4.7 Determination of the Efficiency of Drive 44 3.4.8 Determination of the Torque Transmitted by the Drive 44 3.4.9 Determination of Centrifugal Velocity due to Belt 45 3.4.10 Determination of Centrifugal Force due to Belt 45 3.4.11 Determination of Centre Distance Between Pulleys 46 3.4.12 Determination of the Effect of Belt Tensions 47 3.4.13 Determination of Shaft Reactions 47 3.4.14 Determination of Shaft Shearing Forces 48 3.4.15 Determination of Shaft Bending Moment 49 3.4.16 Determination of the Torsional Shear Stress of Key 52 3.4.17 Determination of the Angle of Twist of Shaft 53 3.4.18 Determination of the Number of Belts 53 3.4.19 Determination of the Dynamic Load Rating for the Bearing 54 3.5 MATERIAL SELECTION 54 3.6 COST ANALYSIS 55 x
CHAPTER FOUR 4.0 FABRICATION AND TESTING 4.1 FABRICATION 4.1.1 Marking Out 4.1.2 Cutting 4.1.3 Welding 4.1.4 Grinding 4.1.5 Surface Finishing 4.1.6 Painting 4.2 MOISTURE CONTENT DETERMINATION 4.3 TESTING 4.4 DISCUSSION OF RESULTS 57 57 57 58 58 58, 58 58 59 61 CHAPTER FIVE 5.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 CONCLUSION 5.2 RECOMMENDATIONS REFERENCES APPENDICES 62 62 64 65 APPENDIX I: APPENDIX II: Truncated Square Base Pyramid of Hopper Table 1: Dimensions for the Standard V -Grooved Pulley 65 66 Table 2: Life of Bearings for Various Types of Machines 66 Table 4: Recommended values for Kb and K t 67 Table 5: Keys Dimensions Based on the Required Diameter xi
LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: Structure of a fresh palm fruit Figure 1.2: Fresh palm kernel fruit (bunch) 2 Figure 1.3: Section of a fresh palm kernel fruit 3 Figure 1.4: Whole palm kernel expeller (CAMEMEC, Benin) ' 7 Figure 1.5: Palm kernel expeller (O.P.C., Cameroon) 7 Figure 1.6: Palm oil processing unit operations 9 Figure 3.1: Schematic diagram of palm kernel cracking machine 31 Figure 3.2: Belt cross-section 35 Figure 3.3: Belt Diagram 35 Figure 3.4: Loading of Shaft 47 Figure 3.5: Loading of Shaft 48 Figure 3.6: Shear Force and Bending Moment Diagrams 51 xii
LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1: Material, Quantity and Total Cost 55 Table 4.1: Results from the Test Carried Out 59 xiii