Design and Fabrication of a Vermicompost Harvester with Worm Separation and Sieving Mechanism

This paper demonstrates the development of a vermicompost harvester that uses pushing and sieving in its mechanism. The prototype was created through guide principles in designing the vermibin, light intensity for worm separator, sieve sizing and selection, and appropriate drive for transferring vemicast and substrate to sieving and the sieving motion. It undergoes several subtests for verification of its functionality and effectiveness. The machine would save manpower in the separation and sifting process for harvesting vermicompost. The result of the tests suggests that the design of the vermicompost harvester is effective in separating worms from their casting using the set time and light intensity of thirty (30) minutes and sixteen (16) row six (6) light emitting diode (LED) lights. For the machine’s load capacity, tests show that at 100% load of thirty-two (32) kg, the machine’s performance was not affected, and the quality of the sieved vermicompost was maintained.