Development and Evaluation of Baby Corn Grader

The power-operated size grading machine for baby corn was designed, fabricated and tested. The grader consists of a feeder, grading unit, collection unit and power transmission system. Two gear motors of 0.5hp are used to operate the grader. The machine grades the baby corn into five grades: 10-12mm, 12-14mm, 14-16mm, 16-18mm & >18mm. The grader was operated at four speeds – 0.7m/min, 1.1m/min, 1.5m/min and 1.9m/min. The performance of the machine was evaluated in terms of its grading efficiency and grader capacity. The max and min overall grading efficiency recorded were 84.9% and 68.8% at the roller speed of 0.7 and 1.9 m/min respectively. The input and output capacity of the grader varied from 63 to 154 kg/h and 241 to 714kg/h respectively under different grader speeds.