Development of a Belt Pick-up Type Two-row Sesame Reaper

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to develop a walking-type two-row sesame reaper, which can simultaneously perform the cutting and collecting of sesame plants and other crops like perilla and soybean. Methods: The factors involved in reaping sesame were determined experimentally in order to design a prototype of the sesame reaper. The prototype is made up of four parts for cutting, conveying, collecting, and running. The height of two disc-plate saw blades on the cutting part is adjusted by an adjusting wheel, and peripheral speed is adjusted in accordance with the running speed. The conveying belt of the conveying part can be tilted from 0° to 90°. The collecting part extracts a predetermined amount of transferred sesame plants. The prototype was used to evaluate the performance at different working speeds, so that the work efficiency can be calculated. Results: The center of gravity of the sesame plants was 900 mm, measured from the end of the cut stem. The diameter of the disc-plate saw blade was determined to be 355 mm, peripheral speed was 20.4-32.7 m/s, and the picking height of the conveying belt for sesame was 130 mm. The performance of transfer and collection of the sesame, when the insertion angles were 60° and 90°, proved to be excellent. However, when the angle was over 120°, the performance was only 75-80%. The performance was at 100% efficiency when the ratio between running speed and conveying belt speed of the prototype was 1:2, which seems to be the ideal ratio for the sesame reaper. Conclusions: A sesame reaper was developed, which can integrate the processes of cutting, conveying, and collecting, by investigating and considering various factors involved in the reaping process. The sesame reaper can reduce the costs for yielding and producing sesame due to its highly efficient performance.