Taiwan has exported about 30,000 tons of vegetable soybean annually in recent years. Most of the separation task were still done by labor. In order to tackle labor shortage problem and increase the commercial value, the development of machinery for separation of vegetable soybean is urgently needed. The results obtained in this study are as follows: (1) The size of vegetable soybean pods with one seed is in the range 4.03-3.31 cm in length, 1.35-1.19cm in width and 0.92-0.74cm in thickness; those with 2 seeds, 5.10-4.44cm in length, 1.38-1.22cm in width, and 0.93-0.75cm in thickness, those with 3 seeds, 5.96-5.28cm in length, 1.40-1.24cm in width and 0.94-0.80cm in thickness. (2) The range of static friction angles is 8°-11° and the bean pods tend to slide along their longitudinal axis. (3) A weight-balance rack added to the shaking separator under the sieve will make the machine more stable. (4) The highest separating rate in the primary outlet can be achieved by keeping the sieve horizontal. (5) When bean pods contain 25% of one seed pods, the highest separation results were obtained in the primary outlet of the separator. It implies that this type of separators is suitable for use in separating Tainung No. 205 soybeans. (6) The bean pods would get stuck between two stainless pipes and then blocked the vegetable soybean flow then decrease the separating function by using this type of shaking separator.
