Res. Agr. Eng., 2024, 70(2):82-91 | DOI: 10.17221/51/2023-RAE

Application of the physical properties of local cowpea varieties in the development of a multi-variety cowpea cleanerOriginal Paper

Babatunde Olusola Adetifa ORCID...¹, Elizabeth Ayobami Olumomi ORCID...¹, Taiwo Moses Samuel ORCID...¹, Ayoola Abiola Babalola ORCID...¹

¹ Department of Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, College of Engineering and Environmental Studies, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State, Nigeria

Cowpea, an annual legume widely grown and consumed in Nigeria, has been observed to contain between 27–33% impurities when freshly harvested and threshed. This poses a threat to humans when consumed and in large-scale agricultural processing. Therefore, this study is aimed at developing and evaluating the performance of a multi-variety cowpea cleaner (MVCC). Using standard methods, some selected engineering properties of the cowpea varieties were examined and used in the design of the MVCC. The cowpea had a moisture content of 8–14%, depending on the locations and varieties. Other properties investigated include the length, width, thickness, sphericity, geometric mean diameter, unit volume, arithmetic mean diameter, aspect ratio, surface area, unit weight, true density, terminal velocity, and angle of repose. The MVCC comprised the hopper, winnower, cleaning unit, fan assembly, and frame. The performance of the MVCC was also evaluated. The efficiency of separating good products of honey, drum, and Sokoto White beans was 95, 91, and 84%, respectively, while separating bad products was 87, 94, and 96%, respectively.

Keywords: cleaning; drum beans; honey beans; separation; Sokoto white beans; quality of cleaning

Received: May 24, 2023; Revised: August 31, 2023; Accepted: October 10, 2023; Published: June 27, 2024  Show citation