Conceptual and Embodiment Design of a Cam shaker

Abstract Proper justification and selection of agricultural machine components can improve the productivity and efficiency of both conventional and prototype of a thresher. A cam shaker for threshing agricultural products was designed and developed. This was achieved based on previous studies, establishment of concepts generation and selection of alternative solutions to threshing problems. Some of the design parameters calculated were: Power required, spring allowable load / deflection and weigh of cam. Results indicated that the cam shaker improved productivity of a motorized cowpea thresher. The performance evaluation shows that the modified cam shaker has average cleaning efficiency of 97 %, while in previous studies of some threshers that do not has cam shaker has average cleaning efficiency of 49 %. Issues on design process and selection criterion were discussed.