Browsing by Author "Dogra, Baldev"
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ThesisItem Restricted Design, development and evaluation of a tractor operated paddy straw bale shredder(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2019) Sunil Kumar; Dogra, BaldevPaddy is a major cereal crop of Punjab. Paddy cultivation is practiced on more than 3 Mha area of the state. Paddy straw burning is major issue of Punjab and its adjoining states. More than 20Mt of paddy straw is generated annually in Punjab, out of this farmers burn approximately 15 Mt paddy straw in the fields. Paddy straw burning releases a number of pollutants such as particulate matter, sulphur and carbon oxides, besides degradation of soil health. Paddy straw can be used as a mulch for next season crops. Mulching reduces weed emergence, reduces water evaporation from soil surface and improves soil properties. A paddy straw bale shredder cum mulcher was designed, developed and evaluated to use baled paddy straw as mulch. Theoretical design of paddy straw bale shredder cum mulcher was done. Thereafter its 3-D model was developed. This machine was fabricated in Dr S. R. Verma Research Hall of Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering. Performance of the developed machine was evaluated at three levels of forward speed (F1= 2.25, F2= 2.65 and F3= 2.95 km/h), three levels of shredding rotor tip speed (S1= 30.71, S2= 36.47 and S3= 41.84 m/s) and three levels of deflector angle (A1= 25°, A2= 30° and A3= 35°) on garlic planted on 1m wide beds. The selected dependent variables were mat thickness, uniformity of spread, weed count, plant damage, fuel consumption and effective field capacity. The effect of forward speed and rotor speed on mat thickness, coefficient of variation and fuel consumption was significant at 5% level of significance. CV was minimum (43.62%) at treatments combination F1S3A1. CV increased with increase in forward speed and decreased with increase in rotor speed. Maximum mat thickness of 59 mm was obtained for F1S3A1. It decreased with increase in forward speed and increased with increase in rotor speed. The weed count was minimum (10) for treatments combination F1S3A1. Weed count decreased with increase in mat thickness. Yield of the crop increased with the increase in mat thickness. Maximum yield of 47.31 q/a was observed for F1S3A1 that had maximum mat thickness of 59 mm. It was 8.98 % higher than control (without mulch). No plant damage was observed due to machine operation in the field. Average effective field capacity of the machine was 0.25 ha/h. The average fuel consumption during machine operation was 4.61 l/h.Net savings by using the developed machine increased by Rs 6665 per hectare.ThesisItem Restricted Design, development and evaluation of tractor operated spading machine(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2020) Karwasra, Nitin; Dogra, BaldevOne of the most important operation in farming is tillage that handles the breaking of soil. Soil tilth needs to be managed by best management practice in order to reduce energy consumption. Primary advantage of spading machine as compared to the other ploughing methods is that it does not over-pulverize and create compact layer at the bottom of tilled soil. The present study was conducted to design, develop and evaluate a tractor operated indigenous spading machine. A crank-rocker type motion of four-bar mechanism was selected to simulate the spading action. Analytical analysis of four-bar mechanism was conducted and the link lengths were optimized using simulation software. The gearbox was developed assuming 50hp tractor to be used for operating the machine and its 3D model was developed in CAD software. The machine was fabricated and assembled with the help of a manufacturer. Field evaluation of the developed spading machine was conducted at three levels of forward speed (S1= 2.26, S2= 3.37 and S3= 4.92 km/h), three levels of depth of operation (D1= 20 , D2 = 25 and D3= 30 cm) and three levels of angle of attack (A1= 30°, A2= 35° and A3= 40°). The performance was analyzed on selected dependent variables i.e. bulk density, PTO torque, pulverization index and cone index. Statistical analysis revealed that forward speed (S) and depth of operation (D) had significant effect at 5% level of significance, while no significant effect observed for angle of attack (A) on bulk density of tilled soil. Maximum and minimum mean bulk density was observed at S3D3A3 (1.54 Mg/m3) and S1D1A1 (1.17 Mg/m3), respectively. PTO torque was affected significantly by forward speed and depth of operation, while angle of attack had no significant effect at 5% level of significance. Maximum and minimum mean PTO torque was observed at S3D3A1 (550.78 Nm) and S1D1A3 (327.66 Nm), respectively. Pulverization index was affected significantly by forward speed and depth of operation, while angle of attack had no significant effect at 5% level of significance. Maximum and minimum mean pulverization index was observed at S3D3A1 (18.20 mm) and S1D1A3 (3.68 mm), respectively. Effect of forward speed and depth of operation was statistically significant while angle of attack had no significant effect at 5% level of significance for cone index. Maximum and minimum cone index was found at S3D3A1 (1888.09 kPa) and S1D1A3 (624.27 kPa), respectively.ThesisItem Restricted Refinement and evaluation of sugarcane trench planter to suit local conditions(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2018) Mohit Kumar; Dogra, BaldevTrench planting of sugarcane is being popularized by PAU as it gives better net returns, requires less water and management to avoid cane lodging is easy. At present, trench planting is practiced by making trenches using tractor operated trencher and remaining operations are done manually involving 200-250 man-h/ha. To reduce labour requirements, no such machine is being utilized by farmers in Punjab for planting sugarcane in trenches. There is shortage of labour Therefore, a sugarcane trench planter, which was commercially available in Uttar Pradesh, was modified according to suit local condition of Punjab to bridge this mechanization gap and thereby increasing the level of mechanization in Punjab. The preliminary evaluation of sugarcane trench planter was carried out at three different cutting rollers peripheral speeds (0.93 m/s, 0.81 m/s and 0.69m/s) and three forward speeds (2.26 km/h, 2.6 km/h and 3.0 km/h) on three varieties of cane (Co118, CoPb93 and CoJ-85). Thereafter, the field evaluation of modified sugarcane trench planter was carried out by selecting one cutting rollers peripheral speed 0.69 m/s and two forward speeds (2.26 km/h and 3 km/h) on same three varieties of cane (Co118, CoPb93 and CoJ-85). The selected dependent variables were cane length, cane diameter, set length, bud damage, set damage, number of set cut, overlap/ gap and germination count. The observed data was statistically analyzed by using statistical software ´SPSS`. The average cane length observed during field evaluation in Co118, CoPb93 and CoJ-85 was 212.33, 193.80 and 173.68 cm respectively. The average cane diameter observed during field evaluation in Co118, CoPb93 and CoJ-85 was 2.65, 2.35 and 2.73 cm respectively. Set length increased with the decrease in diameter of cane and cutting roller peripheral speed. Bud damage increased with the increase in cutting roller peripheral speed. Bud damage in variety Co118 was higher due to relatively more toughness of cane. Number of set cut increased with the increase in cane length and decrease in set length. Average overlapping decreased with the increase in forward speed. Practically no set damage was observed. Germination percentage on left side of trench observed in Co118, CoPb93 and CoJ-85 was 50.71%, 43.00% and 48.50% respectively, whereas, on right side of trench observed was 48.11%, 38.68% and 43.15% respectively. Germination of cane observed by machine planting was more than the conventional planting. There was 20 to 30% reduction in cost of planting and 55 to 60% reduction in labour cost as compared to conventional method.ThesisItem Open Access Studies on axial flow paddy thresher equipped with modified mechanical feeding systems(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2016) Ahuja, Manish; Dogra, BaldevRice (Oryza sativa) is one of the oldest known crops to have been cultivated by human. India is one of the main rice producing and consuming countries of the world. The total production of rice in India during 2013-14 was 106.64 million tonnes of which the contribution from Punjab was 11.26 million tonnes (Anon 2014a). Low capacity and higher grain losses in conventional threshers led to the development of axial flow threshing mechanism (Khan 1986). Axial flow threshers developed by IRRI in 1970s have been widely tested, evaluated and modified by the state agricultural universities and local manufacturers in India and other Asian countries. The losses in existing threshers were up to 4.49% (Anon 2011) whereas acceptable loss level for threshing cereals is of 1% (Anon 2001). The capacity of wheat threshers increased multifold when equipped with belt feeding system. Therefore, a thresher with conveyor belt type mechanical feeding system was developed in the department. There were some limitations in this system. To improvise these limitations, threshers with improvised conveyor belt type mechanical feeding system and feeder chain type mechanical feeding system were developed. This study was conducted to evaluate performance of these threshers at the departmental farm during Nov-Dec, 2015. After preliminary testing of feeder chain type thresher, its performance evaluation was studied on PR-124 to ascertain the effect of cylinder speed (12.27, 14.44 and 16.61 m/s), conveyor speed (2.52, 2.96 and 3.4 m/s) and feed rate (4.08, 4.8 and 5.52 t/h). The threshing efficiency, non-collectable loss, broken grain, cleaning efficiency, sieve overflow and torque were 98.90%, 0.55%, 0.23%, 98.44%, 0.38% and 336.3 Nm respectively at the best combination of cylinder speed, feed rate and conveyor speed of 16.61 m/s, 5.52 t/h and 2.52 m/s respectively. Similarly, the performance of conveyor belt type thresher was studied to ascertain the effect of cylinder speed (12.01, 14.13 and 16.24 m/s), conveyor speed (2.71, 3.19 and 3.66 m/s) and feed rate (5.1, 6.0 and 6.9 t/h). The threshing efficiency, non-collectable loss, broken grain, cleaning efficiency, sieve overflow and torque was 99.08%, 0.52%, 0.34%, 97.96%, 0.40% and 354.8 Nm respectively at the best combination of cylinder speed, feed rate and conveyor speed of 16.24 m/s, 6.9 t/h and 2.71 m/s respectively.ThesisItem Open Access Studies On Grain And Straw Separation Characteristics In An Axial Flow Combine Harvester(Punjab Agricultural University; Ludhiana, 2005) Dogra, Baldev; Ahuja, Sewak SinghThesisItem Open Access Studies on tractor operated back-pack type axial flow combine harvester for mung bean (Vigna radiata (L.))(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2021) Talukdar, Dipika; Dogra, BaldevMung bean (Vigna radiata (L.)) alternatively known as green gram is an ancient and popular pulse crop in India. Pulses serve as a major source of dietary protein of vegetarians. Cultivation of summer mung bean will also help in reducing the rate of depletion of natural resources, which is a prime concern in Punjab at present. Efficient mechanized harvesting is one of the constraints in the adoption of summer mung bean. Grain losses while combine harvesting of mung bean can be reduced by using an axial flow combine harvester. Recently low cost tractor operated back-pack type axial flow combine harvesters have been introduced in local market. Attachment and detachment of tractor is much easier than tractor on top combine harvester. These have the potential to reduce harvesting losses during harvesting. Performance of this machine was evaluated at three forward speeds (FS1=2.1, FS2=3.0 and FS3=4.8 kmh-1), three cylinder speeds (PS1=11.08, PS2=13.16 and PS3=14.79 ms-1) and days (2, 4 and 6) after last irrigation. The selected dependent variables were threshing efficiency, broken percentage, cleaning efficiency and shattering losses. The results indicated that the threshing efficiency increased with increase in days after last irrigation and cylinder peripheral speed, whereas it decreased with increase in forward speed. Similarly, the grain breakage increased with increase cylinder peripheral speed and days after last irrigation, however it decreased with increase in forward speed. The cleaning efficiency increased with increase in forward speed, whereas it decreased with increase in cylinder peripheral speed and days after last irrigation. The non-collectable loss increased with increase in forward speed and days after last irrigation, however, cylinder peripheral speed did not affect it. The shattering loss increased with increase in forward speed and days after last irrigation. However, cylinder peripheral speed did not affect it. The best combination of operational variables for threshing operation was DAI3PS3FS2 i.e. six days after last irrigation, at cylinder peripheral speed of 14.79 ms-1 and at forward speed of 3.0 kmh-1. At this combination, threshing efficiency, non-collectable losses, grain breakage and cleaning efficiency were 99.28%, 4.53%, 2.96% and 95.89%, respectively. The tractor operated backpack type axial flow combine harvester saved 90.26% labour cost and 53.71% cost of harvesting compared to combination of spike tooth type thresher and manual harvesting.