ITS Campus, ITS News – Every time the corn harvest season arrives, the farmers in Petung Village, Gresik, still have to peel the corn manually, so it takes a long time and, of course, a lot of time and energy for the farmers. Departing from these problems, the Real Work Lecture and Community Service (KKN Abmas) team of the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS) designed an innovation in the form of an automatic corn sheller machine.

Prof. Dr. Eng Must be like Guntur ST MEng, Chairman of the Abmas KKN Team, revealed that the Gresik area is a national corn-producing district. Not wanting to waste this potential, Must and the team are trying to find practical solutions. “Until finally, the team and we agreed to initiate this automatic corn sheller,” said the ITS Mechanical Engineering Department lecturer.

Automatic corn sheller grant activity by the ITS KKN Abmas Team to corn farmers in Petung Village, Gresik

Based on Must’s description, this automatic corn sheller is specially designed using a diesel engine known to be reliable for heavy loads and easy to get fuel. In addition, this tool is also equipped with a belt-pulley transmission and a thresher mechanism that can be adjusted in size and capacity as needed. “The belt-pulley transmission itself functions to continue and reduce the speed of the diesel engine to the corn threshing roller,” he explained.

This tool, he continued, has a production capacity of 1,200 to 1,500 kilograms per hour. While the maximum speed produced reaches 1,500 rotations per minute with a power of 1.5 kW/7.5 HP. “This tool weighs up to 30 kilograms with dimensions of 720x620x510 millimeters,” explained the doctoral degree winner at the Tokyo Institute of Technology.

Interestingly, this machine can be used to crush corn of different sizes, large and medium, to find even a neat and undamaged corn shape. According to Must, ease of operation is one of the goals so that anyone can use this tool. “Besides, this tool can be moved around easily, considering that this machine is a diesel motor,” said Must.

With this corn sheller machine, I Must feel that the people of Petung Village can maximize their productivity as corn farmers. On the other hand, the corncobs produced after the shelling process can be processed by residents to become animal feed, fuel, and other necessities.

Demo process and tool testing by the ITS KKN Abmas Team in front of corn farmers in Petung Village, Gresik

This Abmas KKN activity has been going on for six months, since the beginning of May 2021. In detail, this activity consists of surveying the potential and needs of farmers in May, designing and drawing tools in June-July, and the fabrication process in September. Before being given to local residents, a technical function test was conducted in early September. “And finally, we handed over two units of equipment on September 22,” he said.

During the delivery of the tool grant, a series of socialization and discussions were held with corn farmers and Petung Village officials. Not only that, but the ITS KKN Abmas team also conducted demonstrations and trials of operating the equipment in front of corn farmers. “We saw that the enthusiasm of the residents was outstanding. We were even asked to initiate other tools such as peelers to increase their agricultural productivity,” he admitted.

Lecturers, education staff, and the Abmas KKN team students took pictures after the tool grant activity.

The activity, which consisted of eight lecturers and education staff and 11 students, was known to experience many obstacles, such as the difficulty of coordination between the technical and the field due to the implementation of Restrictions on Community Activities (PPKM) some time ago. Even so, I must be grateful because this activity can finally run smoothly.

In the future, the Head of the ITS Mechanical Engineering Postgraduate Study Program (Kaprodi) is targeting to initiate a similar corn sheller machine with a larger capacity. “In addition, I hope to create a startup to help the downstream process or commercialization of tools to farmers throughout East Java,” he concluded. (ITS Public Relation)

Reporter: Erchi Ad’ha Loyensya