Automatic Winnowing Mechanism

Automatic Winnowing MechanismAbstract:

Wind winnowing is a method developed by ancient cultures for agricultural purposes. It involves taking a basket of mixed grain and chaff, or using a winnowing fork on a pile of harvested grain and tossing the contents into the air, thus causing the chaff to blow away while the heavier grains fall back into the basket or onto the ground or threshing floor.

The chaff consists of calyxes, stems, old petals, husks, and dead parts of the fruit or flower. Typically in the villages the winnowing is a procedure that the ladies of the family take care. In this mechanism they carry a large wooden plate and try to place themselves in the direction opposite to the air, after careful placement they will shake the wooden plate and make the grain and the chaff fall from a height. The chaff being lighter flies with the wind and the grain being heavier will fall near by, separating the chaff from the grain.In places like, big storage places, where the grain (mixed with chaff) needs to be bought and chaff needs to be separated before weighing, many people are required and the time taken by them is also huge. Considering this fact we propose an automated winnowing mechanism with the following features

1. Long conveyor belt

2. Shaking vibrating bed/plate

3. Quantity selector

4. High Speed fan5. Water jets

6. Underground chaff collector and drainage system.

This mechanism will be consisting of a conveyor belt on which the gunny sack consisting of the mixture of the grain and chaff can be emptied. This belt will be a long belt so that many sacks can be simultaneously emptied. The mixture is then rolled over to a vibrating plate which will be able to shake the mixture and will then throw the mixture in the air. This mechanism will also house a quantity selector so that limited quantity can be offloaded to the vibrating bed or plate.

Under this mechanism we will be placing a high speed fan which will be able to blow away the lighter chaff and the heavier particles i.e. the grains can be collected in a bucket. The chaff collected can be then washed with the water jets. The washed chaff is then collected at the end of an underground drainage system so that the chaff doesnt fly in the air as it is bad for human health as it can cause allergies of many kinds and also give way to asthma and other breathing problems.In this project we will be covering and understand the following topics:

8051 Hardware Designing

Coding in 8051 Assembly

PCB designing and concepts

Controlling and driving mechanism of Relays to control External Devices.

Conveyor belt design (chain drive)

Motor controlling mechanisms

Fan controlling mechanism

Water Jets and movements

ModelingBlock Diagram:

Light Emitting Diodes for Visual Indications

Switches like Start/Stop and Emergency Stop Etc.

Relays for Controlling Vibrating bed

Relays for Controlling Water Jet Controller

Relays for Controlling Conveyor belt motor

Relays for Controlling Blowing Fan

Relay Controlling Mechanism

Liquid Crystal Display

Micro-Controller

89C51

Page 2 of 3