Effect of feeding rate and threshing cylinder speed on the performance of tractor operated paddy thresher

Abstract

The experiment was conducted on tractor operated paddy thresher at Lohar Khera and Sanga in Fatehabad (Haryana). The main purpose of this research work was to estimate the operational cost and performance evaluation for spike tooth type paddy thresher. In this study, the paddy thresher was tested at different cylinder speeds (12, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 m/sec) and feeding rates (0.38, 0.45, 0.49, 0.56, 0.62, 0.68 and 0.74 kg/sec). The variation in speed was achieved by using stepped pulley system. The operational cost of paddy thresher was estimated by the straight-line method of depreciation. The operational cost and fuel consumption of tractor operated paddy thresher was found to be about 380 Rs/hr and 2.75 litre/hr, respectively. The maximum threshing efficiency and cleaning efficiency were obtained as 98.80 % and 99.10 % at feed rate of 0.56 kg/sec and 0.38 kg/sec, respectively. The total minimum loss was obtained as 1.12 % and 2.80 % at feeding rate of 0.38 kg/sec and 25 m/sec cylinder speed, respectively. From this study, it was concluded that the threshing efficiency of the thresher increases with cylinder speed up to 25m/sec and then decreases. The cleaning efficiency increases continuously with threshing cylinder speed. It may be as such, because at higher speeds, the blower delivers more volume of air which helps to clean the output of the thresher.