Design, Development And Performance Evaluation Of A Diesel Engine Driven Mechanical Sugarcane Harvester

Abstract

Sugar Production In Ethiopia Started In 1954/55 When The Wonji Sugar Factory Was Commissioned And Produced 15,843 Tons Of White Sugar In The First Campaign. Sugarcane Harvesting Is The Most Costly Operation In Sugarcane Farming. Although More Sophisticated Self-Propelled Sugarcane Harvester Has Been Using In Developed Countries While Manual Harvesting Was Still Practiced In Most Undeveloped Countries Like Ethiopia. In Areas Where Manually Sugarcane Harvesting, A Simple, Efficient And Less Complicated Mechanical Harvesting Machine Aid Was Desirable. Manual Sugarcane Harvesting Requires Intensive Labors, Quite A Lot Of Money, And Time-Consuming Tasks Which Involves Considerable Human Drudgery. So This Study Focused On The Design, Develop And Performance Evaluation Of Sugarcane Harvesting Machines That Is Cheap, Easily Affordable By The Farmers And Sugar Factories Easy To Maintain And Less Laborious To Use. The Developed Sugarcane Harvesting Machine Consists Of A Frame, Discs With A Cutting Unit, Shaft, Safety Frame, Wheels, And Five Horsepower Diesel Engines. Hence This Project Work Overcomes These Problems And Aims To Develop A Small-Scale Sugarcane Harvesting Machine. The Materials Used For Construction And Manufacturing Was By Considering The Different Parameters During Operation And Harvesting. The Developed Sugarcane Harvester Was Tested In The Laboratory And In The Field. In A Laboratory Test, The Machine Was Checked For Its Specifications And Operations. In The Field Physical Structure Of The Sugarcane, Speed Of The Operators, Pulse Rate, And The Performance Evaluation Of The Machine Was Made In Terms Area Covered, And Other Related Parameters. The Performance Evaluation Was Carried Out At Three Levels Of Cutter Speeds (1000 Rpm, 1085 Rpm And 1170 Rpm). The Mean Area Coverage, Field Capacity, Field Efficiency And Height Of Cut Above The Ground By The Sugarcane Harvester Machine With 1085 Rpm Were Observed To Be 1.9 10-3ha, 3.8 X10-3ha/Hrs, 86.10% And 5.8 Cm Respectively. The Harvesting Cost To Finish 118.5 M2 Areas Was 148.71 Etb. The Cost Of Fabrication For The Development Of The Sugarcane Harvester Was 21,498.65 Birr. Based On The Performance Evaluation Results, It Is Concluded That The Prototype Harvester Was Easy, Efficient And Affordable By Sugarcane Producing Farmers And Sugar Factory Of Ethiopia.