Development of a combined manual and motorized operated palm nut cracker

Abstract

A combined motorized and manual powered palm-nut cracker was designed, fabricated and tested at different moisture contents. The machine was designed for an output capacity of 90.4Kg/hr. for motorized and 19.8Kg/hr. for manual power respectively. The features of the machine are hammers, cracking chamber, hopper, Spout, main frame, chain, sprocket, shafts and effort-arm. During testing, a maximum efficiency of 85% at 16% moisture content was attained for a motorized nut cracker at a speed of 1440rpm; while the efficiency of 44% at 25% moisture content was attained for manually powered machine. The estimated cost of the machine is N12,635.00. Journal of Applied Science, Engineering and Technology Vol. 3(2) 2003: 41-44