General Information
Contact: Paul Dawson
Office: 196 Rhodes Hall
Email: prd5@cornell.edu
Background
Concern over the sustainability of conventional food production and distribution has led to a significant increase in consumer interest for organic and locally produced foods. In the Northeast there is growing demand for locally produced staple foods such as grains, but production
is not meeting current demand. A major barrier to the production and marketing of local grains is the lack of infrastructure for post-harvest processing at the farm level. Before being sold as food, specialty grains like spelt, emmer and einkorn wheat must first be de-hulled to remove the glumes, which adhere to the grain. There is a lack of equipment that meets the need of small to medium sized farmers who process a moderate amount of grain. This includes the majority
of grain farmers in the Northeast who are interested in the opportunity to sell grains locally as food (rather than as animal feed or wholesale for processing). Two years ago, a team of MEng designed and built a low-cost prototype for de-hulling grains. Field testing has been limited, but sufficiently successful to merit designing a production version of the machine.
Design Requirements
The goal of this project is to design and build a production model of a grain de-huller based on the prototype model. The target is a model that would work for the quantities of grain processed by small to mid-sized farms. This would be roughly 15,000-60,000 lbs/year that would need to be processed in a relatively short period of time after harvest, so the machine should be capable of a throughput of around 300-600 lbs/hour without the need for a person constantly managing
the machine. It should operate on single-phase power to avoid costly installation expenses. Cost is critical, with a target price of under $5,000.
Project Plan
A small design team (2-4 individuals) will first critique the present design based on the results of field testing done to date as well as their own testing. Based on the critique, the team will re-design the machine with construction cost and efficient production operation as priorities. Students will work with scientists (in the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics at Cornell and at regional NGOs) and with entrepreneurial farmers currently experimenting with equipment who can provide direct feedback on problems, potential improvement and the feasibility of different designs. This project is within the context of a larger Organic Research and Education Initiative funded by the US Department of Agriculture. Organization
The design project will be conducted during fall and spring semesters. The team will meet each week to discuss progress. Meetings with external collaborators will be scheduled as needed. Tentatively, the team will critique the existing design and complete the re-design during the fall semester. Construction and testing will be carried during spring semester.