Research and development on paddy washing machine for households rice milling machines

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to develop the paddy washing machine for community rice milling machines, to extend this technology to rural community and introduce to commercial production. The experiments were conducted at the Department of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resource, Rajamangala University of Technology Tawan-ok, Bangpra Campus, Sriracha, Chonburi. The results showed that paddy washing machine was suitable for high moisture content paddy between 20-25 % and washing for 1-3 minutes demonstrated better milling quality than unwashed paddy. Performance test of this developed paddy washing machine using drum speed at 35 rpm, drum slopes of 1, 2 and 3 degree, and 21.60 % MC KDML 105 paddy could reach capacity about 150-200 kg/hr. The milling quality was significantly different at 95% confidence level from unwashed paddy. Furthermore, this machine provided 1% better in purity and 11% better head rice yield at the same milling degree. From the study, it can be concluded that increasing drum slope gave higher capacity, higher power efficiency, and lower water usage. The best condition was working with drum slope of 3 degree. The paddy washing process gave higher purity of paddy, head yield and power efficiency of washing process while the color property was not significantly different from unwashed paddy at the same milling degree.