Performance Evaluation of Tractor Operated Cotton Stalk Shredder Cum Uprooter

A large amount of cotton stalk is generated in India every year. Cotton stalks are burned in the fields as crop residues due to a labour shortage and high investment costs. Global warming will be caused by burning the agricultural residues in the field and also by the loss of nutrients in the stalk. Cotton residue management is thus the best solution. To shred the cotton stalk into pieces and uproot the stubble left in the field, a cotton stalk shredder and cum uprooter are used. A performance study was conducted in the cotton field. The purpose of the experiment was to assess the performance of a cotton stalk shredder cum uprooter. The performance parameters considered for the study were uprooting efficiency, power requirement, draft requirement and fuel consumption with respect to type of uprooter blade, viz., cross, sweep and curved and rake angle viz., 10o, 20o and 30o. The best results were observed for curved blade at a rake angle of 10o. The draft,  power requirement, fuel consumption and uprooting efficiency were found to be 1.78 kN, 1.48 kW, 2.38 l h-1 and 99.6 per cent, respectively

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Not AvailableCrop residue is the non-edible plant parts that are left in the field after harvest. Field residues are materials left in an agricultural field or orchard after the crop has been harvested. These residues include stalks and stubble (stems), leaves and seed pods. The residue can be ploughed directly into the ground or burned first. Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Govt. of India estimated that about 500 Mt of crop residue is generated every year. There is a large variability in crop residues generation and their use depending on the cropping intensity, productivity and crops grown in different states of India. Residue generation is highest in Uttar Pradesh (60 Mt) followed by Punjab (51 Mt) and Maharashtra (46 Mt). Among different crops, cereals generate 352 Mt residue followed by fibres (66 Mt), oilseed (29 Mt), pulses (13 Mt) and sugarcane (12 Mt). However, a large portion of the residues, about 140 Mt is burned in field primarily to clear the field from straw and stubble after the harvest of the preceding crop. The problem is severe in irrigated agriculture, particularly in the mechanized rice-wheat system. Good management of field residues can increase efficiency of irrigation and control of erosion. Hence, the utilization of balers for crop residue management is the need of the hour. Several researchers have designed and developed the different models of balers for residue management. This paper highlights the various parameters affecting the baling process for agricultural residues.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableRotary weeding blade is one of the important component for a tractor operated rotary weeder and need to be designed in such a way that they have enough strength in order to avoid the unbalancing force on the rotary weeder. The application of computer aided design (CAD) for structural analysis of rotary weeding blades on the basis of finite element method was carried out using ANSYS-software for three types of weeding blades viz., L, C and J-type. The different types of weeding blades are geometrically constrained with preparation of solid model and the simulation is done with actual field performance rating parameters along with boundary conditions. Prediction of stress distributions among the blades is important for the designers and manufacturers in order to minimize the errors and breakdowns. The analysis showed that, the maximum and minimum principal stresses were found to be 439.35 and 9.09 MPa respectively with a total deformation of 3.05 mm for L-type blade. Whereas for C-type blade, these values were 729.9 and 38.84 MPa respectively with a 4.65 mm total deformation. While the maximum and minimum principal stresses for J-type blade were found to be 362.68 and 17.7 MPa respectively with a total deformation of 1.65 mm. It was observed that, the stress values were within the limits of the yield stress of the material (758 MPa). Hence, the blades designed and selected for the study could be adopted for the development of the rotary weeder.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableA study was conducted to optimize the operational parameters viz., forward speed, rotary speed and type of blade for development of a tractor operated rotary weeder. The weeder was designed using computer aided design (CAD) software and prototype was fabricated and operational parameters viz., three forward speeds (2.0, 2.5 and 3.0 km h-1), two rotary speeds (210 and 240 rpm) and three types of blades (L-type, C-type and J-type) were selected to evaluate its performance for weeding in redgram crop in field conditions. The results indicated that the maximum weeding efficiency of 92.5% with a field capacity of 0.42 ha h-1 and fuel consumption of 5.2 l h-1 was recorded with minimum plant damage (3.15%). The field performance of the weeder was found to be better at 2.5 km h-1 with a rotary speed of 210 rpm for L-type blade compared to other types which were selected as optimized conditions for rotary weeder.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableA tractor operated rotary weeder was designed using computer aided design software and prototype was fabricated. The weeder was evaluated for its field performance in cotton crop. The experiments were conducted at three forward speeds (2.0, 2.5 and 3.0 km h-1), with two rotary speeds (210 and 240 rpm) for three different types of blades (L-type, C-type and J-type). The better performance of tractor operated rotary weeder was observed at 2.5 km h-1 forward speed with rotary speed of 210 rpm for L-type blade compared to other types. Results of field performance evaluation showed that the weeding efficiency and plant damage of the weeder were 89.50% and 3.75% with a fuel consumption of 5.5 lh-1 with an area coverage of 0.43 ha h-1. The cost of operation for the weeder was estimated to be Rs.1357 ha-1 as against Rs.2500 ha-1 for conventional method of manual weeding. The breakeven point for rotary weeder was found to be 98 h per annum with a payback period of 2.3 years.Not Availabl