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Subject: Farm, Machinery and Power × End date: 2023 × Start date: 2020 × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Study on tillage-induced soil compaction using an embedded microprocessor based cone penetrometer
    (CCSHAU, Hisar, 2023-02) Kumari Nisha; Upadhyay, Ganesh
    Soil compaction is a major concern for agricultural field management which can either positively or negatively affects plant growth and crop yield. Measurement of compaction in terms of soil penetration resistance or cone index (CI) using a hand penetrometer requires more time and effort. Therefore, to reduce the human engagement, a tractor hydraulic assisted embedded microprocessor based penetrometer was developed to make the results easy to monitor and also decrease the human error. The developed penetrometer consisted of a driving system for pushing the penetrometer probe into the soil up to the desired depth at the desired speed, a sensor unit for measuring the force required to push the probe and depth of penetration, and a data logging system. The driving system consisted of a directional control valve and a double-acting hydraulic cylinder actuated by the tractor hydraulic system. A load cell was fitted between the cylinder and penetrometer rod to measure the penetration resistance. An ultrasonic sensor mounted beneath a circular plate fixed in the cylinder rod monitored the depth of penetration. A WiFi module helped to transmit the data to a developed Android mobile application through WiFi. The developed system was successfully able to measure a maximum soil penetration resistance of 5000 kPa up to a penetration depth of 500 mm. The embedded system of the penetrometer comprised various components such as Arduino Uno microcontroller, I2C, WiFi module, HX711 amplifier, 9 V battery etc. The acquired data also includes date/time parameters along with latitude and longitude locations picked up from the GPS system of the mobile. The performance of the developed embedded microprocessor based cone penetrometer was also assessed based on sensor performance characteristics such as accuracy, sensitivity, non-linearity, and non-repeatability. The average and maximum absolute variations in the cone index values measured with the developed system and a hand-held digital penetrometer were observed to be 22.50% and 25.13%, respectively. A study was also conducted to quantify the data regarding freshly induced soil compaction beneath the tillage working depth purely due to the tilling action of the active tillage machinery such as Rotavator, Power harrow, and PTO-operated disc tiller in terms of parameters such as cone index, bulk density, and porosity. The results of compaction study showed that the maximum soil compaction beneath the working depth (120-220 mm depth range) in terms of increment in soil CI and bulk density and decrement in soil porosity occur in treatment T1 (1 × rotavator) followed by treatments T4 (1 × cultivator + 2 × disc harrow), T3 (1 × PTO-operated disc tiller), and T2 (1 × power harrow).
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Development of an experimental plot corn harvester
    (CCSHAU, Hisar, 2023-08) Mohit Kumar; Vijaya Rani
    Maize is one of the most important cereal crop in the world next to rice and wheat. In India, the cultivated area of corn in 2020-2021 was 9.8 million hectare with an average productivity of 3199 kg ha-1 and in Haryana, it was six thousand hectares with an average productivity of 2.83 t ha-1. The scientist community viz. agronomist, soil scientist, breeders, are working on maize crop. The scientist laydown experiments on small plots which are to be harvested. In the experimental design, the plots are small and scientists demand for small corn harvester. However, for the scientific research, there is requirement of the machines for collection of data multiple times. Harvesting is one of the most crucial task in maize farming. Manual harvesting operations typically require 8 to 10 persons to pick cobs from one acre area between 8 and 10 h which is very costly, tedious and time consuming. Thus, this study was undertaken to develop an experimental plot corn harvester. The corn harvester was developed and constitutes of feeding cum snapping unit, corn cob collection bucket, power transmission unit and main frame. The power was transmitted from PTO of the power tiller to the chain-sprocket mechanism and the gear assembly which rotated the feeding cum snapping unit as per required rpm. The power tiller was operated as per speed required in experimental design. The corn stalk entered the feeding cum snapping unit smoothly and the cob was later snapped by the snapping roller after which the cob was collected in the collection bucket. It was evaluated under the operating parameters: three forward travel speed (0.47 km h-1-0.70 km h-1, 1.12 km h-1-1.60 km h-1 and 1.83 km h-1-2.27 km h-1 ), three level of inclination angle (00, 100 and 200) and three rotational speed of feeding cum snapping rollers ( 400 rpm, 500 rpm and 600 rpm ). The optimum parameters were obtained as forward travel speed 1.34 km h-1, rotational speed of feeding cum snapping rollers 500 rpm and inclination angle of feeding cum snapping unit zero degree. The Corn cob picking efficiency, cut corn cob percentage and corn cob damage percentage of corn harvester were 97 %, 1.27 % and 0.97 % respectively. Actual field capacity of the harvester was found 0.046 ha h-1 with field efficiency of 76.67 %. The cost of operation was Rs 7586.11 ha-1. Thus, it saved 77.78 % of labour requirement for harvesting in one hectare area in comparison to manual method of harvesting. The break-even point was found 90.93 h yr-1. The payback period was found 0.39 years and benefit cost ratio was 1.32.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Performance evaluation of battery operated tractor
    (CCSHAU, Hisar, 2021-08) Shinde, Vyankatesh Shankarrao; Jain, Mukesh
    Farm mechanization is one of the most important elements of modernization of agriculture. Agricultural tractor is an integral part of agricultural mechanization and has a crucial role in increasing agricultural productivity. The diesel engine agriculture tractor requires fuel to produce energy, due to burning of fuel, it produce GHG which affect adversely on environment. Diesel engine tractor require periodical maintenance, emits high noise, produce more vibration. The increasing cost and limited resources of diesel fuel, increasing pollution, calls to use alternate energy source for agriculture tractor. Therefore, study, on performance evaluation of battery operated tractor was carried out. The present study was undertaken to assess the various performance tests like drawbar test, noise test, vibration test, field test, haulage test etc. and operating cost analysis of ET. The performance evaluation of the ET was conducted at NRFMTTI, Hisar. The maximum drawbar pull and drawbar power of ET with gross weight of 1005 kg were measured as 7.35 kN and 8.26 kW, respectively, with limiting wheel slip of 15 %. ET produces very low noise, and produces low level of vibrations during work, which will assure a nice working environment, without any negative effect on operator. The maximum noise produced at bystander’s position and at operator’s ear level was 73.3 dB (A) and 76.3 dB (A), respectively, which was 13.76 % and 20.52% lower against the maximum permissible limit of 85 dB (A) and 96 dB (A) as per IS 12207:2019. Noise was also measured during field operation with rotavator at bystander’s position and operator’s ear level which was measured as 73.9 dB (A) and 82.3 dB (A), respectively. The amplitude of mechanical vibration on ET was approximately 52 per cent less than the requirement of IS 12207:2019. The actual field capacity with rotavator and M B plough were 0.250 hah−1 and 0.125 hah−1, respectively with 82.38 and 92.05 per cent field efficiency. The battery power consumption during field operation with rotavator and M B plough was observed as 4.52 to 5.3 kWh−1 and 1.4 to 2.05 kWh−1, respectively. Specific battery energy consumption during haulage test was observed as 0.15 to 0.16 kWhkm−1t−1. During the haulage test, battery consumption per km was observed as 0.22 to 0.24 kWhkm−1. The cost of operation of electric tractor with rotavator was Rs 1324 per hectare and Rs 332 per hour.