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“CEREAL CROPS HARVESTING EQUIPMENT”

PROJECT REFERENCE NO. : 37S0137

COLLEGE : B.V.BHOOMARADDI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY,

HUBLI

BRANCH : INDUSTRIAL AND PRODUCTION ENGINEERING

GUIDE : SANJAY KULKARNI

STUDENTS : MOHAMED TAUSEEF

SARASWATI RAJPUROHIT

PRASHANT SALIMATH

ROHAN ARGEKAR

Introduction: Pulse crops are one of the most widely cultivated crops and some of them are chickpea, sap

flower, green gram etc. These are usually cultivated on black soil and the height of the crop

is approximately 40 cms. The sowing is done in the month of November and harvesting is

done during the month of February. The harvesting is done manually and using mechanical

equipments. The manual method involves hand picking which is usually tedious and time

consuming and needs many labours. Now a days availability of labours is a matter of concern

and has to be tackled. Mechanical equipments used is combined harvester. These combined

harvesters[1] have been proved expensive when used in small cultivated lands and movement

around these fields is inconvenient. So development of alternates but economic equipment is

need of an hour which can be used by small farmers with smaller cultivated land.

After studying the existing practices of chickpea harvesting and finding the need for chickpea

harvesting machine with better performance and customized features, the problem statement

has been formed. Manual method involves hand picking which is usually tedious and time

consuming and needs many labours and use of combined harvesters have been proved

expensive when used in small cultivated lands and movement around these fields is

inconvenient and also there is lot of wastage of the pods during harvesting by combined

harvester.

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Objectives:

It will be useful for small cultivated lands (up to 10acres) who cannot afford

heavy and costly equipments.

Harvesting 3 rows at a time.

It helps save the time.

Operated by 1 or 2 person so help to decreases cost of labor.

To reduce Human effort and avoid fatigue.

To increase the yield of the crop.

Methodology:

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Morphology chart

The morphological chart encourages the designer to identify novel combinations of elements

or components. The chart sets out the complete range of elements, components or sub

solutions that can be combined together to make a solution. The number of possible

combinations is usually very high and included not only existing, conventional solutions but

also a wide range of variations and completely novel solutions. The main aim of this method

is to widen the search for possible new solutions. Morphology is the study of shape or form,

so a morphological analysis is a systematic attempt to analyze the form that a product or a

machine might take and a morphological chart is a summary of this analysis. Different

combinations of sub-solutions can be selected from the chart, perhaps leading to new

solutions that have not previously been identified.

Features/Functions 1 2 3

Material used for cheesy

Mild steel

Iron

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Drive/motion of equipment

IC Engine

Bullocks AC motor

Support Wheels Rollers Rear-wheels

cutter mechanism Reciprocating Withworth

cutter bar motion AC motor IC Engine

(2-stroke)

Wheel motion

Conveyor motion AC motor IC Engine

(2-stroke)

Wheel motion

Reel power motion AC motor IC Engine

(2-stroke)

Wheel motion

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Generation of alternatives Alternative-1

Alternative-2

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Alternative-3

Evaluation of alternatives

The process carried out to select the alternatives from the conceptual designs is through

evaluation matrix, which is as shown below.

Alternatives Holding

(By reel) Cutting Conveying

the crops Storage Total

1 5 9 6 6 29 2 8 9 9 8 28 3 9 9 9 9 36

Using evaluation matrix Alternative 2 was selected with following functions,

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Drawings

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BILL OF MATERIALS

Sl.no Description Quantity Material Cost(Rupees)

1 Knife section 12 Hardened steel 1005

2 Fingers double full 3 Iron 1080

3 Fingers double half 3 Iron 918

4 Knife guide 2 Cast iron 272

5 Hex bolt 4 Cast iron 66

6 Hex nut 12 Cast iron 36

7 Lock nut 6 Cast iron 58

8 Washer 22 Cast iron 83.6

9 Friction plate 1 Steel 60

10 Counter sunk rivet 35 MS 53

11 Knife guide top 1 Cast iron 367

12 Mushroom head bolt 5 MS 110

13 Wheels 4 Cast iron 4375

14 Gears 4 Hardened steel 900

15 Angles 20ft MS 3680

16 Sheet metal 39.5kg MS 2000

17 Shaft 4 MS 1880

18 Nut bolt 25 MS 280

19 Pipe 4 MS 1600

20 Belt 3 Rubber 600

21 Conveyor belt 1 9726

22 Washers 10 Aluminum 20

23 Bearings (circular) 2 Steel 220

24 Bearings (204,205,206) 4 Steel 2333

25 Pulley 6 Cast iron 1800

26 MS rod 4 MS 825

27 Paint 1 - 665

28 Engine 1 - 12000

29 Others - 500

30 Total 47512.6

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Results and Conclusions The Pulse crop harvester is designed and fabricated to meet the objectives and constraints

specified.

The main objective of bending, cutting, conveying and storing was successfully achieved. It

helped for small cultivated lands (up to 10acres) who cannot afford heavy and costly

equipments. Harvesting 3 rows at a time was successfully done. It saved 50% of the time &

reduced 50% Human effort .

The main constraints observed here is difficulty to push the machine as it is too heavy so the

design of chassis has to be refined, it is limited to Bengal (chick pea) gram, green gram,

soyabean, wheat, saf flower, black gram. And Cutting distance from the ground minimum

15cms.

Scope for future work

• Weight can be reduced significantly. The selection of the materials has to be done

which would further reduce the weight of the equipment

• A Variable height mechanism has to be introduced which helps in adjusting the height

of the cutter bar ,where cutting can be executed at required height

• The axles have to be installed to the wheels using standard automobile design, which

enables smooth forward movement

• A threshing unit has to be installed.

A threshing unit is one which separates the pods from the plant. It consists of

threshing drum, sews of different textures so that different pods of different sizes can

be separated, a blower fan has to be installed to blow off the waste

• An attachment for bullock cart has to be installed in the front and an attachment for

power tiller at rear end

• A turning mechanism for rear wheel has to be designed

• Diesel or petrol engine are preferable

• Forward auto motion for the equipment is preferable

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Equipment with a threshing unit