Vol. 11, Issue 9 (2022)

Author(s):
Sanjay Kumar, M Mahapatra, PL Pradhan, SK Swain, Kamendra, Ramesh K Sahni and Prerana P Jena

Abstract:
To determine the power requirement of any harvesting machine, the information about torque required to cut the plant stem is important. This study was conducted to examine the effect of peripheral cutting velocity of rotary cutting disc, stem diameter and moisture content on cutting torque requirement for cutting plant stem of black gram. A laboratory test rig consisting of a test trolley, processing trolley and vertical rotor assembly containing vertical shaft having serrated cutting disc was used to determine cutting torque. The plant stem was fixed firmly in the plant stem holder to simulate natural stand of plant stem in the field. The experimental results showed that the moisture content, plant stem diameter and peripheral cutting velocity affected the cutting torque significantly at 1% level of significance. The cutting torque increased as the diameter of plant stem of black gram up to critical peripheral cutting velocity (30 ms^-1), but the value decreased after critical peripheral velocity. Furthermore, torque required for cutting decreased with increasing moisture content whereas it increased with increasing stem plant diameter.