Evaluation and Improvement in Design of Self Propelled Vertical Conveyer Reaper

摘要

Harvesting is one of the important operations of farming. As a step towards mechanization of harvesting operation for cereals, many alternatives are available to day. The self propelled vertical conveyor reaper is the best alternate in India because of crop straw requirement for animal feed and size of fields. The original IRRI design of self propelled vertical conveyer reaper was introduced in India for harvesting of cereal crops. However, due to inherent short comings like drudgery of operation and non suitability to handle/harvest taller fodder crops that increase the utility of reaper, the machine has not become popular among the Indian farmers.rnIn the year 1994 the original IRRI design reaper machine was tested on wheat, paddy and safflower crops. The following necessary scope of design improvements have been observed & suggested in order to make it more functional and cost effective: (ⅰ) Providing a power cut off mechanism for the harvesting unit, (ⅱ)rnProviding a reversing mechanism, (ⅲ) Providing a lower horse power engine and (ⅳ) Providing reduced width steel wheels and provision of attaching rubber tyre wheels when required. The improved reaper design was tested on cereal and fodder crops to increase utility. An adjustable third belt attachment has been fabricated for the reaper to improve conveying effectiveness for tall fodder crops (1.0 to 1.7 m). The shape of the un-cut crop divider, star wheels and row crop dividers (cover plates) was modified. The modified reaper was tested in crops like jowar, ba-jara, maize, safflower and wheat.rnThe modified machine worked very well for harvesting fodder crops like bajara & jowar of about 1.2 to 1.7 m, height. For the windrowing quality, it was observed that for fodder crops more then 80 % of the cut crop was laid satisfactorily. Thus, the improved machine can be used conveniently and effectively for harvesting of both fodder and cereal crops.rnThe cost of harvesting including the heap and bundle making reaper machine was Rs.590/-($13.11) perrnhectare where as the cost of harvesting manually with a sickle was Rs.840/-($18.67) per hectare. Therefore, harvesting with the help of the vertical conveyer reaper resulted in an average savings of 30 %, which was Rs.250/($5.56) per hectare.