Modification and Manufacturing of Cereal Crop Harvesting Machine

Abstract

Today the development of agricultural sector is increasing from year to year. The rice, wheat and other cereals are the focus of many farmers in Ethiopia. But to harvest on time the cereals, intensive human power is needed. Most of the time students starting from elementary level up to university level participate on harvesting of cereals due to unbalance rainfall. To solve this problem, harvesting machines are very essential. Harvesting machinery or equipment is a mechanical device used for harvesting different types of crops. The use of modern tractors, combine harvesters and related heavy machineries is still very limited in Ethiopia. On the other hand, a rising trend in the import of tractors and harvesters is being observed as of recent years. Small-scale farmers on their part are looking more into the use of small mechanically-powered equipment both for crop production and post-harvest activities. From the available machines in the world, different cereal crop harvesting machines were assessed. Using different selecting criteria mower is selected. The design and economic analysis is performed for the selected harvesting machine. Different parts of the machine are designed including material selection and different force analysis like bending, shear stress. Finally parts and assembly drawings are drawn and the prototype is manufactured from the available materials.