INTRODUCTION
Nigeria is an agricultural nation. Melon (Citrullus Vulgaris) is widely cultivated in Nigeria, among other seedlings during the planting season yearly. Several tones of the melon seeds are gathered each harvesting period but only very low percentage of the total harvest are dried by atmospheric draught and bagged for storage. High percentage waste is encored due to lack of good processing and storage facilities.Melon when properly processed yields a lot of by-products, which could be used as food or as raw material for small and large scale industrial manufacture melon is highly enriched with oil. It has about 45% oil content. The oil could be extracted to form a very good source of vegetable oil. After pressing out the oil, the remaining product can be used as food for human of as an additive in agro-feed manufacture. Melon without oil can be grounded and used as thickener or binder in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries.The outside shell of the melon seeds when properly harvested in large quantity can equally be used in preparation of agric feed. The shell has about (12-55) MJ/kg calorific value and therefore can be used as a source of energy for industrial use.The major problems encountered in the processing of melon seeds are the removal of the yellow outside shell and the separation of the broken shells form the white seeds. Locally as at now, manual approach is used for the de-husking and separation.
TABLES OF CONTENT
Title page ii
Dedication iv
Acknowledgement v
Table of Content vi
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Description of the Design Melon 3
1.3 Principles of Operation 6
1.4 Advantages 7
1.5 Objectives 8
1.6 Scope 9
1.7 Beneficiaries 10
2.1 Review of Some Properties 11
2.2 Some Local Variety of Melon Used 11
2.3 Manual De-Husking 15
2.4 Singular Method of Manual De-Husking 15
2.5 Manual Batch Method of De-Husking 15
2.6 Mechanized Method of De-Husking 16
2.7 Advantages 18
2.8 Disadvantages 19
2.9 Melon Treatment Before De-Husking 20
3.1 Mechanics of Operation of Melon De-Husking 21
3.2 Circular Motion and Centrifugal Force (FC) 22
3.3 Rotational Torque (T) 24
3.4 Work Done by a Torque 24
3.5 Force Analysis on Shaft 25
3.6 Volume of Air Generated (VA) 29
CHAPTER FOUR
4.1 Design Calculations 30
4.2 Optimal De-Husking Speed 30
4.3 Angular Velocity of Ratio of the Impeller (W) 30
4.4 Centrifugal Force Developed (FC) 31
4.5 Torque Developed (T) 31
4.6 Power Developed (P) 31
4.7 Loads of Shaft of the Electric Motor 32
4.8 Friction and Particle Motion 33
4.9 Determination of the Bearing Reaction R1 and R2 36
CHAPTER FIVE
5.1 Manufacturing Processes for the Melon De-Husking 39
5.2 Assembly Process 49
5.3 First Test Run 50
5.4 Second Test Run with Treated Melon 50
5.5 Cost Analysis 52
5.6 Conclusion 55
5.7 Recommendation 56
References 57
