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1996 - 20007
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Subject: Farm, Machinery and Power × End date: 2000 × Start date: 1996 ×
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Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Design, fabrication and testing of a power operated jab type paddy dibbler
    (Department of Farm Power Machinery and Energy, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 1997) Maji Krishnan, G; KAU; Jippu, Jacob
    A power operated jab type paddy dibbler developed and tested at K.C.A.E.T, Tavanur is described. A cup feed type metering mechanism, discharged the seeds into the distribution wheel. Rotation of this wheel caused the transfer of seeds from the distribution wheel to the seed tubes. The to and fro motion of the plungers inside the five seed tubes closed and opened the port between the seed tran9fer tube and seed tube at predetermined intervals. A cam and follower arrangement fitted on the main shaft regulated the to and fro motion of the plungers. In operation, the rotation of the dibbler wheel caused the tip of seed tubes to make holes in the soil. At the time of penetration the plunger occupied a position farthest to the main shaft thus keeping the tip of seed tube closed. This prevented the entry of soil into the seed tube. After the seed tube has reached the maximum depth the plunger is moved up quickly transferring the seeds into the holes. The dibbler gave seed rates of 87.1, 74.6, 68.0, and 61.1 kg/ha at the speeds 0.788, 1.152, 1.530 and 1.778 km/h respectively in the field. It placed at an average 3-6 seeds in a hill at a depth of 4-4.2 cm. The number of seeds mechanically damaged was only 0.89 per cent and loss of viability due to mechanical damage was only 3.77 per cent. The average power required was 0.093 hp. Labour requirement was 60.68 man-h/ha. Cost of operation of this dibbler was Rs 86.0/h including the cost of power source. The jab type dibbler is convenient for use by both men and women.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Developing and testing of a collector-cum-storage types solar water heater for domestic use
    (Department of Farm Power Machinery and Energy, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2000) Bijukumar, K; KAU; Mohammad, C P
    The present study was undertaken to desi~n and develop a collector-cum-storage type solar water heater of 30 litre capacity to supply hot water for domestic use. Five solar water heaters with different absorber plate positions were constructed. The storage tanks with dimensions of 67 xIl7 x 10 cm were made by using fibre glass, and the top of these storage tanks were covered using single plain glass plates of 71 x 51 x 0.4 cm size. The position of the absorber plate was varied by changing the width of the spacers (4 nos. at an angle of 400 with the side aluminium sheet), which connects bottom aluminium plate and top absorber plate. The absorber plate was of 65 x 45 cm size. The top face of the absorber plate was painted black to absorb maximum solar. radiation. The absorber plate positions were lcm, 3cm, 5cm, 7cm and 9cm from the top glass cover plate and were designated as SWHl 0, SWH30, SWH5.0, SWH7.0 and SWH9.0 respectively. The absorber plate position was optimized by testing the solar water heaters under two different test conditions. Solar water heater II (SWH3.0) outperforms other solar water heaters under the two test conditions. Maximum outlet temperature of 64°C af 3pm and maximum efficiency of 55.72% also at 3pm were observed in solar water heater 11. So it is optimized that the position of the absorber plate should be at 3cm from . the top glass plate. The solar warer heater can easily be handled by a single person since the weight is only 9.5kg. The operating cost per unit of thermal energy obtained withthe solar water heater was found to be 25 paise per kWh.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Development of powertiller operated paddy reaper windrower
    (Department of Farm Power Machinery and Energy, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 1997) Shiny, Lukose; KAU; Sivaswami, S
    A vertical conveyor reaper-windrower suitable for mounting on KAMCO 9hp powertiller was developed Kerala for the first time. After considering the maneuvrability, weight distribution, field capacity and power transmission, the 1.6m width vertical reaper was selected for the KAMCO powertiller and was locally fabricated. The complete rotavator unit was dismantled and a newly designed power transmission unit was fitted on the KAMCO powertiller. The handle was kept at an ergonomically suitable height of 1m. A combination frame was developed inorder to accommodate both the engine and the reaper at the most appropriate location to achieve the static and dynamic balancing during field operation after the removal of rotavator. The centre of gravity of the engine at the new location was 50mm in front of the wheel axle and at a height of 180mm from its original position. Field evaluation of the reaper was carried out during November and December, 1996 at Tavanur. The front mounted reaper- windrower was evaluated to find out the optimum engine speed and forward speed to achieve better harvesting and windrowing pattern, maximum field capacity and field efficiency with less harvesting losses were found out. For the recommended engine speed of 1200 to 1400rpm at low first and low second gears a forward speed of 0.53 to O. 94m per sec. was obtained in the field. The actual cutting width was 1.5m. The maximum field efficiency of 85 per cent was obtained for first gear when the engine rpm was 1200. Actual field capacity for this speed was 0.224ha per hr. It was seen that for the recommended engine speed between 1200 to 1400rpm a normal forward speed of (.53 to 0. 94m/sec was obtained with an average actual field capacity of 0.25 ha/hr and an average total grain loss of 1.9 per cent in the field. Downward handle reaction for this recommended speeds varied between 9 to 14 kgf at the time releasing the clutch or using the accelarator. By the use of powertiller reaper a labour saving of 82.5 per cent was obtained. The owner would get a monitory benefit of Rs.1210/ha while the farmer hiring the reaper would get a saving of Rs.830/ha compared to manual harvesting. The initial invest of the owner would be paid back within 2 years if he could hire it out for 1000hrs per year. The total weight of the unit is 451kg which is 34kg less than the original weight the powertiller with rotavator unit. Its overall dimensions are L:279S x W: 1650 x h: 1510mm and the total cost is Rs.1,16,500.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Development of a cono-puddler attachment for a 5HP tiller
    (Department of Farm Power Machinery and Energy, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 2000) Tejendra Sharma; KAU; Ramachandran, V R
    A 5hp power tiller operated cono – puddler was fabricated based on the IRRI design and tested. Based on the test result, four more models of cono – puddlers were fabricated and tested. Out of the five models, four were walking behind type implemented and were tested at travel speed of around 0.786 m/sec whereas one was of riding type (model – 5) and was operated at travel speed of around 0.964 m/sec. All the models were tested for three and four times operations. The depth of puddling of the model – 1 was 10 – 11 cm. Another set of conical rotors was fabricated by increasing the blade height to 90 mm from 70 mm (model – 2). The depth of puddling obtained was 12.2 to 13.8 cm. Because of the problem of clogging of soil in between the blades and due to a wide gap in between the rotors which leaves the soil uncut, another set of rotors was fabricated by increasing and modifying the shape of the blades to helical and tested (model – 3). The above three models consisted of six conical rotors clamped individually on a toolbar assembly. Another model, (model – 4) was tested by increasing the number of rotors of model – 3 to eight numbers. The maneuverability of this model was not good as it was difficult at the time of headland turning. The average percolation loss of water for the five models measured for 20 days after puddling varied from 3.692 to 3.979 mm/day for three time operations and 2.650 to 2.983 mm/day for four times operations. The least percolation loss of water was observed in case of model – 5 and highest in case of model – 1 in both numbers of operations. The puddling indices for the five models varied from 56.31 to 59.34 per cent for three times operations and 63.46 to 68.89 per cent for times operations. The highest puddling index was observed in case of model – 5 in both numbers of operations. The average percentage burial of weeds from different test plots varied from 98. 38 to 98.79 per cent in terms of number of weeds and 99.09 to 99.34 per cent in terms of dry weight basis for three times operations. The variation was from 98.94 to 99.69 per cent in terms of number of weeds and 99.40 to 99.83 per cent in terms of dry weight basis for four times operations. The effective field capacities for model – 1, model – 2, model – 3, model – 4 and model – 5 were 0.826, 0.790, 0.843, 0. 826 and 1.053 ha/day respectively for three times operations and 0.618, 0.598, 0.613, 0.643 and 0.799 ha/day respectively for four times operations. The field efficiencies of the five models for different number of operations varied from 52.58 to 72.20 per cent where field efficiency of model – 4 was observed least in both number of operations. In both cases, field capacity and field efficiency of the model – 5 was highest. The draft of model – 1, model – 2, model – 3 model – 4 and model – 5 were 40.68, 45.03, 46.81, 48.19 and 58.06 kg and draw bar horse power requirement were 0.426, 0.472, 0.491, 0.505 and 0.746 hp respectively. The power required for the model – 5 was higher than the other models. The fuel consumption rate for the five models operated at different number of operations varied from 0.495 It/h in case of model – 1 operated three times to 0.666 It/h in case of model – 5 operated for four times. The slippage of the ground wheel for the five models varied from 0.811 per cent to 3.588 per cent. Lowest ground wheel slippage of 0.881 per cent was observed in model – 1 operated three times and highest of 3.588 per cent in model – 5 operated 4 times. The cost of puddling one hectare of land using model – 3 and model – 5 are Rs. 534.39 and Rs. 432.83 when operated for four times and break even point is 1.2 ha compared to animal drawn country plough.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Development and performance evaluation of a black pepper skinner
    (Department of Farm Power Machinery and Energy, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 1996) Anandabose, D; KAU; Jippu Jacob
    A power operated black pepper skinner was developed, tested and its performance evaluated. The major parts were two cylinder – concave assemblies, a hopper, a feed roll, an inclined belt separator assembly and a variable speed electric motor with a speed reduction unit of 10:1 ratio. The decortications took place as a result of the compressive and the shearing forces acting upon the pepper berries fed between the rotating drum and the stationary concave. A 3 – factor, Factorial Experiment in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with feed rate, drum speed and surface condition as factors was adopted. The maximum overall decorticating efficiency was observed at the feed rate of 12 kg/h and drum speed of 20 rpm for both the surface types. The maximum decorticating efficiency observed for coir-mat was 91.5 and that observed for rubber surface was 94.2. The effectiveness of wholeness of kernels was found to show lower values for the highest speed of 25 rpm due to the crushing of berries. The maximum overall decorticating efficiency recorded for coir – mat was 87.7 per cent and that recorded for rubber sheet was 90.3 per cent. The study showed that the parameters of feed rate, drum speed, and surface type, have significant influenz on decorticating efficiency, effectiveness of wholeness of kernals and overall decorticating efficiency.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Development and testing of a large diameter pit digger for laterite terrain
    (Department of Farm Power Machinery and Energy, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 1996) Preman, P S; KAU; Jippu, Jacob
    A large diameter pit digger was developed as an attachment to tractor for making large size pits in laterite suitable for planting saplings of trees especially for coconut palms. It was tested and evaluated at the Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engg. & Tech., Tavanur. The pit digger mainly consisted of a tractor rear-mounted twin-blade laterite cutter. The twin-blade laterite cutter essentially consisted of two circular blades, a main shaft, two cast iron hubs, two bearings and bearing blocks, power transmission elements, a main frame, two protective shields and one stopper. A 3 phase, 3-hp electric motor of 1440 rpm at a speed at a speed ratio of 2.1:1 was used for rotating the blades. By using a jib crane twin-blade laterite cutter was hitched to the three point hitch system of a tractor. Pit having approximately a square-horizontal cross-section and stepped or rebated downwards in four steps was made in laterite. Size of pit obtained was 1290 x 1190 mm at the top and 830 x 623 mm at the bottom with a total depth of 900 mm. The volume of pit was 0.914 m3. The capacity of machine was 2.24 pits of 0.914 m3 in a day of 8 h. For making a pit of 0.914 m3, the total electrical energy consumption was 4.111 kWh and the diesel fuel consumed by tractor was 18.5 L. The cost of digger excluding cost of motor, jib crane and tractor was Rs. 3800. The operating cost of the digger was Rs. 140.61 per hour and the cost of making one pit was Rs. 453.23. After taking in to account of the cost recovered due to the 41 laterite blocks obtained while making the pit, the net cost of making a pit was Rs. 207.12.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Modification and testing of KAU Arecanut De-husker
    (Department of Farm Power Machinery and Energy, Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Tavanur, 1996) Rajmohan, C K; KAU; Jippu, Jacob
    An arecanut dehusker consisting of mainly a pair of fluted rollers, a pressure roller assembly, a scrapper assembly, a guide chute and a feed tray was developed in this study. The arecanut was fed between the two counter- rotating fluted rollers and was pressed against these rollers by the pressure roller. The fluted rollers gripped the husk and pulled it to the rear side of the rollers. In the process the husk was ripped open and the kernel was ejected from its shell. The performance of the machine was studied at speeds of 60, 90,120,150 and 180 rpm and with three different surface characteristics of the rollers. The surface characteristics of the rollers were varied by having different number of teeth and pitch. From the studies the optimum setup of the machine for deriving maximum dehusking efficiency and minimum damage to the dehusked kernels and unhusked fruits was obtained. This was at a speed of 150 rpm against the roller surface having 30 teeth with pitch 3.9mm, width 2.0mm, and depth 1.0 mm. At this set-up the dehusking efficiency, percentage of the number of dehusked kernals and unhusked fruits damaged were 94.4, 5.5 and zero percent respectively. And also this set-up yielded an output of 23 kg of arecanut kernals per hour.