Development and performance evaluation of a tractor operated Chinese potato harvester

Authors

  • T. Krishnakumar
  • M.S. Sajeev
  • C. Pradeepika
  • M. Velmurugan
  • C. Thangamani

Abstract

Manual harvesting of Chinese potato tubers is labour intensive, time consuming and tedious. An averageof 100 female labourers and 20 male labourers are needed to harvest one acre of Chinese potato tubers.To mitigate labour shortages and to reduce harvesting costs, a tractor operated prototype Chinese potatoharvester has been designed and developed to harvest the tubers grown in ridge and furrow system.The harvester comprises of a main frame, digging system, discharge system, power transmission systemand transport system. It can cover three ridges with a spacing of 30 cm and a depth of operation of 15cm. The performance evaluation of the developed unit was conducted, and the operational parameterswere standardized. The digging unit of the harvester was tested with different treatment combinationsof blade geometries viz., inverted V shape, crescent shape and straight type blade at different rake anglesof 15, 20 and 25° and at different forward operating speeds of 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 km h-1. The effects dueto these parameters were optimized based on performances parameters viz., digging efficiency, per centdamage and fuel consumption by numerical optimization technique. The maximum digging efficiencyof 97.28 per cent was noticed for inverted V type digging blade, whereas the lowest of 82.37 per centwas obtained for straight shaped blade. The least percent damage of 3.42 per cent was for the invertedV shape blade and the highest of 9.91 per cent was recorded for straight blade. Among the differenttypes of blade geometry, the maximum (6.24 l h-1) and minimum (4.75 l h-1) fuel consumptions wereobtained for straight blade and inverted V shape blade, respectively. The cost per hectare of harvestingusing the developed harvester was determined to be ` 18,400/- per hectare compared to ` 1,12,500/-for harvesting manually, with a cost savings ` 94,100/- per hectare.Keywords: Chinese potato, Harvester, Manual harvesting, Labour shortage, Mechanical harvesting

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Published

2024-05-09

How to Cite

T. Krishnakumar, M.S. Sajeev, C. Pradeepika, M. Velmurugan, & C. Thangamani. (2024). Development and performance evaluation of a tractor operated Chinese potato harvester. JOURNAL OF ROOT CROPS, 49(1), 27–34. Retrieved from https://ojs338.isrc.in/index.php/jrc/article/view/643

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Research Articles

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