Vol. 11, Issue 12 (2022)

Author(s):
V Shobhan Naik, T Sravani, K Kavya and T Venkateswarlu

Abstract:
Energy is the basic need of human being. Most of the innovation depends upon conventional energy sources affecting environment and human health. There is a need to turn science into green science by using non – conventional energy sources. Sun is a source of renewable energy which emits solar radiation, by using solar panel, which can easily convert electricity and do any mechanical work. The farmers are incurring huge expenditure towards weeding operation in ground nut crop. Commercially, numbers of mechanical operated weeders are available, which are costly and consume more fuel, which is expensive and availability of fuel at rural areas is difficult. In view of this, design and development of a low cost powered weeder for suitable in ground nut crop is highly essential, as the farmer is the heart of Indian economy and our new invention gives support to the farmer to use user friendly weeder. In review of this a low cost solar powered weeder suitable for groundnut was designed, fabricated and evaluated at college of agricultural engineering, Madakasira. The weeder consists of one solar panel, dc motor, two batteries, rotary blades, chain and sprocket mechanism and bevel gear mechanism. The solar panels make up most (upto 40%) of the systems cost. The size of PV system is directly dependent on the power consumption by the weeder, size of motor and the solar irradiance available. The cost for the fabrication of the machine is Rs.10,600/- and operating cost is Rs.76/hr. The machine was evaluated for charging and discharging time and cost economics.