MAXIMIZING THE BENEFITS OF JAPANESE TYPE COMBINE FOR WHEAT REAPING

Abstract

An investigation was carried out to determine and estimate the factors and conditions which make Japanese type combine available in use for wheat reaping. The study included removing threshing and winnowing parts and heightening the pick-up shaft to 5, 10, 15 and 20 cm above the original position with: Fixing repel arms to forward wheat stems to fall aside or fixing a metal mat for transferring wheat stems to fall freely to the ground behind the reaper, as well as installation a back load base. Tests were carried out under travel speed of 1.25, 1.8; 2.4; 3.0 and 3.6 km/h and nails (claws) speed of 25; 33; 42 and 55 rev/min as well as the fall height of 40; 50; 65 and 80 cm for reaped stems. The percentage of grain loss (%), field capacity fed/h, cutting efficiency%, fuel consumption liters/h and total costs have been estimated. Results showed that increasing travel speed from 1.25 to 3 km/h increased losses by 6 % and increased field efficiency by about 18-20%. Increased claws speed from 25 to 42 rev/min increased losses by 3%. Heightening the pick-up shaft from the original position zero to 20 cm reduced losses by 60% while increased efficiency by 6 %. Assembling back pile base at 50-80 cm increased the total losses by 53.6%. Power requirements decreased by 5.8 % by using repel arms comparing to using a mat. The total cost for reaping one feddan decreased by 75% comparing to manual reaping costs for the same area.