Paddy Thresher Integrated with Infrared Rotary Dryer and Dehusker for On-farm Brown Rice Production

摘要

Though brown rice is rich in nutrition, one of the main reasons for non-adoption of brown rice is its higher cost. Looking into the importance of brown rice and foreseeing the increase in demand of brown rice, a need of a machinery fulfilling above purpose was felt, which can directly give output in the form of good quality brown rice at lower cost. Based on the review and physio-mechanical properties of four paddy varieties commonly grown in Haryana, the design concept of thresher for brown rice production was evolved, which consisted of co-axial split-rotor thresher that is especially suited for high moisture paddy; and two rotary dryers fitted with 18 nos. of ceramic infrared (IR) heaters (650 W) along the central axis of rotary dryer. Recently,IR radiation is being used for drying agricultural products for achieving fast and uniform heating of the grains forquick removal of moisture. A rubber sheller unit for brown rice production and conical abrasive polisher (as an optional feature) was added to produce white rice. Thus, a tractor operated paddy thresher-cum-dryer-cum-dehusker-cum-polisher was designed, developed and evaluated.