Design and Fabrication of a Modular Melon Depodding Machine for Optimum Performance in Nigerian Agricultural Sector

Abstract

The traditional methods of depodding melon pods to extract the edible seeds is a time consuming and tedious process. A melon depodding machine was therefore designed, fabricated and tested for use in Nigeria. The fabricated machine had the following operating units: depodding chamber, power system, feeding hopper, supporting frame, electric motor, gear shaft, discharge unit etc. The average mass of melon pod of 1.671 kg and the average diameter of the melon pod of 139.25 mm were obtained experimentally. From the performance test carried out on the machine, average percentage of depodded seeds of 91.1255%, average percentage of undepodded seeds of 7.2915%, the average percentage of damaged seeds of 1.5835% and the average percentage of useful seeds of 98.4165%. Considering the aforementioned results, the melon depodding machine designed in this study can perform optimally in both domestic and commercial level in Nigeria.