Team Members: Jon Doucet, Kevin Drummond, Seth Gale, Matt Mooney,

Mike Totterdale

Team 3: The PlainsMen Conceptual Design

Presentation

Overview

Photo by Michelle Ajamian

Customers

• Appalachian Staple Foods Collaboration• Michelle and Brandon

Goal

• Provide locally-grown staple food crops for the less fortunate around Appalachia.

Crops

• Spelt, buckwheat, barley and oats.

Background Information

Crop Refinement

Cutting• Cutting the

stocks from the ground

Threshing• Breaking

the seed off the stock

Cleaning (1)• Separating

the stock from seeds

Dehulling• Breaking

the outer shell from the inner seed

Cleaning (2)• Separate

the outer shell (chaff) from seed

Example: Sunflower Seed

• Left – Full seed before Dehulling• Right – Seed after Dehulling

Dehulling

Only large-scale equipment available

• Too expensive for small plots• Oversized• Hard to transport from plot to plot• Only focus on single part of refining process

Farmers with varying needs and equipment

• Some have tractors, horses, etc.• Community gardens only have ~¼-acre plots

Customer Problem

Customer Requirements

• Can be transported farm to farm• Able to be put on and or built on trailer

Portability

• Can be run by users at all farms easily and efficiently• Ability to keep both hulls and seeds• Compatible with Team 2’s Design

Ease of Operation

• Can be used on a variety of the crops harvested• Can change dehuller settings for different crops

Flexibility

• Safe to use and transport• OSHA Compatible

Safety

Results

• Most Important• Ease of operation and flexibility

Issues with Method

• Doesn’t take into account necessities• Strictly quantitative

• Least Important• Portability

Comparison Weighting

Centrifugal force

• Center shaft is rotating at high speeds

• Seeds are poured down the center of the centrifuge

• Hit against the walls to break the hulls

• Seeds and hulls are shot into a cone like hopper where they are collected

Initial Dehuller Concepts

Two rollers rotating inward in order to break the hulls between them

Rollers will have some type of grit to help grab and break the hulls

The distance between the rollers with be able to change to be able to break hulls of different sizes

Seed Input

Concept #1

Concave wall crushes hulls between the roller and the wall.

Rollers adjustable to allow for different size seeds

Similar to patents with single roller

Seed Input Conca

veWall

Concave wall crushes hulls between the roller and the wall.Rollers adjustable to allow for different size seedsSimilar to patents with single roller

Seeds are crushed in between the rollers.

Springs force one roller against the seed and other roller.

Spring stiffness determined by the seed

Springs allow for abnormal objects like rocks to go through without damaging the rollers.

Seed Input

Concept #3

Similar to photo shown earlier of current dehuller

Centrifugal force used to force the seeds outward, smacking the wall of the cylinder

Variable RPMs depending the specified seed.

Concept #4

Low Risk Medium risk

High Risk

Risk Assessment

Blower

•Air Forced Upwards

•Chaff blows away• Can be collected

•Seeds continue through (too heavy)

Screener

• Vibrating dual screens• Blower to blow away chaff• Complicated

• Efficient• Expensive

• Vibrating dual screens

• Blower to blow away chaff

• Complicated• Efficient• Expensive

Screener

Dehuller

• Ability to break the hulls• Keeps the seed as one piece, not broken up or smashed

Cleaner

• Separate hulls from seed• Complexity• Efficiency

Overall

• Cost• Size• Manufacturability

Considerations

Specific Data hard to find

• Hardness of seeds • Force required to break hulls.

Customer Constraints

• Don’t have any samples yet

Lack of Experience

• We are not experts on farming equipment• Brandon and Michelle are experienced but not experts

Current Problems

Contact Larry Grabau• University of Kentucky• Ph. D in Crop Sciences

Test Crop Samples

• Test hardness of various crops

Create Mock ups• Test all crops• Vary RPM’s, spring sizes, space between rollers

• University of Kentucky• Ph. D in Crop Sciences

Contact Larry Grabau

• Test hardness of various crops

Test Crop Samples

• Test all crops• Vary RPM’s, spring sizes, space between rollers

Create Mock ups