Development of a coconut husk crusher and cutter | |
| Author | Sahapat Chalachai |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.AE-09-04 |
| Subject(s) | Coconut Cutting machines |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering in Agricultural Systems and Engineering, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. AE-09-04 |
| Abstract | NOTE 520 The use of coconut husk as an orchid growing media has been increasing because of its low cost and availability. Media preparation mainly includes crushing and cutting of coconut husk. These activities, which are time consuming, unpleasant, dangerous and strenuous, need to be mechanized. Almost all of the orchid cultivation operations on medium to large scale farms are not yet mechanized in Thailand. Also, because of an existing labor shortage for agricultural work in Thailand, manual preparation of growing media often causes delays. Therefore, it was necessary to mechanize the media preparation operations. The new machines have three components: conveyer unit, crushing unit and cutting unit. These were designed for the prototype and tested under different conditions. Before starting the actual test, all the physical properties of coconut husk were measured, then all the samples were tested for the performance of the conveyer unit and crushing unit using different motor speeds (1,200, 1,300, 1,400, 1,480 and 1,500 rpm). After testing, it was observed that the speed ratio of the conveyer unit, crushing unit and cutting unit should be 1 :0.75:46 because it requires the least amount of power. Therefore, the recommended motor speed is between 1,400-1,500 rpm as this speed results in 82.5% of good husk, and uses least power. |
| Year | 2009 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis ; no. AE-09-04 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (Former title: Department of Food Agriculture, and BioResources (DFAB)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Agricultural and Food Engineering (AE) |
| Chairperson(s) | Salokhe, V.M. |
| Examination Committee(s) | Jayasuriya, H. P. W.;Soni, Peeyush;Roongruang Kalsirisilp |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Thailand (H.M. Queen) |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2009 |