Performance of Water Wheel Knock Down System (W2KDS) for Rice Milling Drive

Abstract

The number of water wheels operated by the community in West Sumatra, Indonesia, in 1970 was around 4082 units, and now it is estimated that there are around 420 units. The water wheel system is made permanent, made of wood, the construction is quite heavy so that it becomes a problem when installing it. Water Wheel Knock Down System (W2KDS) is a good alternative and solution because the construction is light, and its components can be broken down so that it is easier to install in remote villages. The formulation of the problem of this research is how the performance of W2KDS driving rice milling? The research objective was to analyze W2KDS performance, transmission efficiency, and rice milling productivity. The research methodology is an experiment with the stages of designing W2KDS systems and components, building W2KDS-rice milling, and analyzing the performance of W2KDS driving rice milling. The type of W2KDS that has been successfully built is a breast shot with an outer wheel diameter of 180 cm, an inner diameter of 120 cm, a blade width of 60 cm, 20 blades, and a belt-pulley power transmission system. The results of the W2KDS performance analysis of rice milling driving are, at a water flow rate of 88 L/s, head of 5 m, and a rotational speed of 60 rpm, the resulting torque is 551 Nm, power 3400 W, W2KDS efficiency 78.1%, transmission system efficiency 88.2% and rice milling productivity of 86.40 kg of rice/hour.