Design and construction of a pedal powered rice thresher.

Abstract

This project report comprises of information on rice threshing and gives an account mainly on the design and construction of a pedal powered rice thresher, it's arranged in five chapters as. summarized below; Chapter one presents background to rite production and. consumption with specific emphasis on Uganda’s progress in rice production and value addition activities in the rice value chain. The problem, considered in this study is presented in the problem statement including the justification; objectives and scope of the study are also presented. Chapter two discusses the details of the various aspects involved in rice production with emphasis on the aspect of threshing, different threshing techniques and the operation of the existing rice threshers are presented. Chapter three encompasses, the methods and procedures followed in the design, fabrication and testing of the thresher to meet desired objectives and the assumptions that were taken into account for design purposes, the procedures used to fabricate and construct the designed prototype. Chapter four contains the results and major findings that were obtained and concluded upon testing the machine. The designed and constructed machine threshed paddy rice with an efficiency of 8.9%, there were losses involved in the form of breakages and the efficient thresh ability or the rice highly depends on the speed of pedalling. The final chapter five contains conclusion, challenges that were faced during the construction of the rice thresher and the recommendations to be incorporated to improve the prototype.