DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A THRESHING CHAMBER AND PNEUMATIC CONVEYING AND CLEANING UNITS FOR SOYBEAN HARVESTING
A threshing chamber was developed for an alternative soybean threshing device. Pneumatic conveying and 
cleaning systems were developed for the device based on dilute-phase design principles. Also presented is a structured 
approach for using dilute-phase pneumatic design principles to solve conveying and cleaning problems associated with 
soybean harvesting. The device threshed standing uncut soybean plants with an array of plastic fingers fixed to 
counter-rotating shafts. The threshed materials were initially pneumatically cleaned and then pneumatically conveyed to a 
grain tank. The collection system captured 85% of the threshed beans. A two-stage cleaning system was incorporated to 
remove the material-other-than-grain (MOG) before the grain reached the grain tank. Over 95% of the MOG, excluding 
soybean stalks, was removed in the first stage of the cleaning system. The second stage of the cleaning system further removed 
the chaff from the grain. The average efficiency of the conveying system was 92%.