Structural analysis of cotton stalk Puller and Shredder Machine

Abstract

World scenario after pandemic COVID-19 has been drastically changing and researchers more focusing on, to minimize the post-pandemic effects on economy, energy sustainability and food security. Agriculture sector is playing pivotal role in world food security and energy sustainability. There is high need to optimize the mechanization technologies to increase the yield in limited energy inputs and operation time to fulfill the world growing food demand. This research is mainly focused on the design development and structural analysis aiding with Finite Element Analysis (FEA) approach for Cotton Stalk Puller and Shredder machine (CSPS) to cut the crop leftovers, soil conditioning (shredding the plant waste into soil) and sowing of next crop in single run by conserving input resources. The experimental trials revealed that there is high pressure on cutting blades, chocking of shredder section and excessive pulling load on tractor hitches, which affected the machine’s performance. To mitigate deficiencies and design optimization to improve the machine safety/reliability, the structure analysis carried out. Six core components of machine including baseplate, blade, gear system, root digger, pulley and shaft has investigated as per field conditions. The results revealed that the material of blade, root digger and teeth of gear system receiving the high stress under the operational conditions which results the edge wear and damage. The carbonization up to one-millimeter thickness can provide the extra strength to bear the excessive load on edge layers.