HARVESTING MACHINE
INTRODUCTION
• When the crop reach at a stage of maturity and form
seeds that are ripen and get ready for consumption
have to be harvested from the field.
• For this purpose there are many implements such as
mower, threshers, cleaners and combine harvester.
• Mechanized harvesting of small grains is performed
by either self-propelled combines or tractor PTO
driven trailing type machine.
Harvesting is the process of collecting the mature crop from the
field.
Cutting: cutting the panicles and straw.
Hauling: moving the cut crop to the threshing location.
Threshing: separating the paddy grain from the rest of the cut
crop.
Cleaning: removing immature, unfilled and non-grain materials.
Field drying: leaving the cut crop in the field and exposing it to
the sun for drying.
Stacking / Piling: temporarily storing the harvested crop in stacks
or piles.
The purpose of grain harvesting is to recover grains from
the field and separate them from the rest of the crop
material in a timely manner with minimum grain loss
while maintaining highest grain quality.
The methods and equipment used for harvesting depend
upon:
the type of grain/ crop/,
planting method, and
climate.
CROP HARVESTING MACHINE TYPE
1. Mower
• It is intended primarily to cut grass and other forage crop. However it may
be adapted to harvest cereals like wheat.
• Working principle of mower
• The cutting principle of mower is similar with that of a scissor. I.e. two
sharp blades share the stalk of the grass at a certain speed.
Mower can be classified
According to working principle
1. Cutter Bar Mower: has knife that cuts the material by reciprocating
(back & forth) motion
2. Rotary Mower: has one or more rotating blades mounted horizontally
which cut the material by rotational motion.
According to the power source
Tractor driven mower, Self-propelled mower, and Animal drawn mower:
CUTTER BAR MOWER
• It has two plates called ledger plate and knife section
called stationary plate & movable plate respectively.
• When the knife section moves back and forth on the
stationary plate it can cut the crop or grass by shearing
action.
• These two plates are mounted on a bar called cutter bar.
• For normal cutting action there should be clearance
between these two plates which is provided by knife
clip
Component of cutter bar mower
• Knife: is consists of a knife strip head (connection point) and the
knife section (individual cutting unit).
• Guards: are parts which protect the knife being damaged by
external material (rock) & act as a fixed shearing edge for cutting
action. It also divides crops and guides them in to knife section for
cutting.
• Ledger plate: is the stationery cutting part of a guard and can have
either smooth or serrated edge
• Wear plate: serves as a guide for a knife track and keep the knife
back in proper position so that the shearing action is maintained.
• Knife holding clip: holds properly the knife section against the
ledger plate for clean cutting. That is it regulates the clearance
between the knife section and the ledger plate.
2. BALERS
Hay balers are designed to create packages of more dense hay, which allow for
more efficient transport.
Hay balers are grouped by the type of dense package or “bale” produced;
1/ Small square/rectangular,
2/ large round, and
3/ large square/rectangular.
A. SMALL SQUARE BALES
Small square balers produce bales that by design are small and light enough for
a person to pick up manually, ranging from 40 to 60 pounds (depending on the
type of hay, the density/size of the bale, and water content).
B. Large Round Bales:
Large hay packages were introduced with large round balers during the 1970s.
Large round bales with diameters of 4, 5, or 6 feet and widths of 4 or 5 feet can
contain between 1000 to 2000 pounds of hay (roughly the equivalent of 20 to 45
small square bales) and are too heavy to handle manually.
C. LARGE SQUARE BALES:
Large square bales (upwards of 800 pounds) have become very popular across
the country in the past 10 years.
3. Combine Harvester
• A combine harvester is more sophisticated than most of other
harvesting machine and usually intended for large farm and gives
the advantage of being able to carry out cutting (harvesting),
threshing, cleaning and bagging.
TYPE OF COMBINE HARVESTERS
Based on the method by which they are propelled or
powered, combine harvesters are categorized as:
1. Tractor drawn with the combine powered by the PTO
shaft,
2. Tractor drawn with the combine powered by an auxiliary
engine,
3. Self propelled the combine powered and propelled by its
own engine.
Basic Functions Of Combine Harvesters
The basic purpose of a combine harvester is to recover grain from
a crop with a minimum of seed damage and seed loss.
1. CUTTING UNIT OR HEADER
This unit cuts the standing crop and delivers it to the feeding
mechanism.
Major parts of this unit are: Reel, Divider, Cutter bar & Auger
1. Reel – the standing crop is guided to the cutting mechanism by the
reel. The height of the reel can be adjusted hydraulically from the
operator's platform. Lower the reel in down crops and raise it in
standing crops.
2. Dividers – are used to divide the crop, which comes to the machine
and the rest standing in the field to be slightly pushed apart so that it
is not damaged by the machines.
3. Cutter bar – is the main part of the cutting unit, which cuts the
crop.
On the entire length of the cutter-bar, there are fixed guards in
which the knife section moves.
A reciprocating motion is given to the knife section, which is used
to cut the crop.
4. Auger: - the cut crop falls on the auger, which has right and left flight that
brings the cut crop to the center of the auger. In the center of the auger, prongs
are arranged to convey the crop to feeder conveyor.
Proper operation of the reel is critical to minimize header losses, which include
shatter losses and cutter bar losses.
Shatter losses are grain heads or pods that fall to the ground due to the action of
the reel.
Cutter bar losses are grain heads or pods that are cut by the cutter bar but fall to the
ground.
Factors affecting header losses are
1.cutting height,
2.reel position with respect to the cutter bar, and
3.Reel speed with respect to the forward speed.
Optimum reel position is determined by
1)crop height,
2)amount of straw cut, and
3)Condition of the straw.
2. FEEDING UNIT
The reel moves the cut crop to the intake auger.
The auger flights move the material to the cutter-bar centre where
the feed rake delivers it to the drum for threshing.
Feed conveyor: conveys the cut crop to the threshing system.
One end of the housing is hinged to the main machine while the
other open end is fixed to the cutter bar.
It has 3 chains running on set of sprockets fixed on 2 shafts.
On the chains, there are slats, which hold the crop and take it to the
threshing system
3. THRESHING UNIT
Threshing removes the grain or seed from the head or pod.
The major parts of this unit are the cylinders, concaves and the grates.
Threshing takes place in that part of the combine between the
revolving cylinders and stationary concave assembly.
The concave is a stationary set of bars below and very close to the
cylinder.
The grains are separated from the crop due to rubbing action between
the cylinder rasp bars and the concave bars.
The concave is usually made in single piece, all welded construction
in grates form.
The separated grains fall through the grates into the step bed and
travel to the cleaning section.
THRESHING PERFORMANCE
The performance of threshing mechanisms is measured by
1. threshing efficiency,
2. separation efficiency,
3. the amount of grain damage and
4. The amount of straw breakup.
Threshing performance parameters are affected by the following factors:
Design factors: cylinder diameter, concave length, number of rasp
bars;
Operating parameters: cylinder speed, cylinder-concave gap, material
feed rate;
Crop condition: crop moisture content, crop maturity, crop type
4. SEPARATING UNIT
Most of the threshed grain is separated from the straw at the
concave and at the finger grate at the rear of the cylinder.
Removing the threshed grain from the mass of straw and
propels it to the rear.
Straw walkers consist of several long channel sections
mounted on a crankshaft.
As the shaft turns the channel sections follow an elliptical or
circular path that causes the straw to bounce on top of the
channels and move toward the rear of the combine due to the
design of the saw tooth shape of the top of the channel
sections.
SEPARATING UNIT CONT.
The oscillating action causes the grains and some chaff to be sifted
down and be separated from the straw.
There are three to eight sections in a combine depending upon its
size.
The sections are about 20 to 30 cm wide and the crank throw is
about 5 cm. It rotates at approximately 200 rev/min.
5. CLEANING UNIT
This unit removes/separates chaff and fine residue from the threshed grain.
It cleans by the combined action of sieves and air ballast.
6. GRAIN HANDLING UNIT
This is a power driver unit used to convey the threshed and cleaned grain to the
grain tank.
The clean grain auger collects clean grain at the bottom of the shoe and
conveys it to the elevator.
The clean grain elevator elevates the grain from the auger and discharges it
into the grain tank or bagger.
Machine Adjustments for Threshing Effectiveness
Cylinder speed
Clearance between the cylinder and concave
Number of bars and teeth on the cylinder and concave.
Other factors that affect threshing effectiveness include
Crop condition
Type of crop
The amount of crop/ material fed to the cylinder
Over threshing refers to very aggressive threshing caused by
Very high speed
Too narrow clearance between the cylinder and concave
Too many bars or teeth on the cylinder and concave
Too dry seed
Light feeding rate
Under threshing refers to incomplete threshing that leaves seeds on the head
and pods. This is caused by;
Too low speed of cylinder
Very wide clearance between cylinder and concave
Too few number of bars or teeth on the cylinder and concave
Damp crop, immature crop
Heavy feeding rate into the cylinder
Over cleaning refers when grain is dropped on the ground behind the machine.
It is caused by
Too much air blast
By having the sieves closed too tightly
Under cleaning results in drift and chaff mixed with the grain bin. It is caused
by
Too little wind blast
Sieves too widely opened
Losses
There are five categories of losses
1. Shattering loss - these are grains lying on the ground out of the reach of
the cutter bar.
2. Cutter bar loss - grain loss due to rough handling of the cutter bar.
3. Cylinder loss - grain lost on the rack in the form of un-threshed grain.
4. Separating loss - grain lost from the rear of the combine in the form of
threshed grain. This includes walker loss and shoe loss.
5. Cleaning loss - the loss in value of grain because of the presence of
foreign materials in the grain tank.
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