Development and performance evaluation of a cowpea harvester

A cowpea harvester was designed, constructed and evaluated for its performance. The machine was fabricated with high carbon steel with an output capacity of 120kg/h. The performance of the harvester was evaluated at two crop moisture content 15.17% and 17.47% and two main shaft speeds of 540 rpm and 1000 rpm. At moisture content of 15.17% and machine speed 540rpm, the machine exhibits the highest functional efficiency of 93.75%, quality performance efficiency of 81.21%, field loss of 3.4% and shattered loss of 6.66%. The machine is statically and dynamically stable hence able to withstand vibration.