The development of an experimental rig was performed to modified blades geometry and lifting angles for the suitability of pulverization of oil palm fronds to reduce torque, noise and vibration and fuel consumption during field operations. The experimental rig and the blades were attached to the soil bin and the transducers were connected to the data acquisition module .The blades were attached to the blade carrier and the appropriate operated speed was selected via the control box. Three level of mulching depth (10, 15 and 30 cm) were compared based on the level of pulverisation on the four blades. Sieve analysis was carried out to determine the level of pulverisation. The statistical analysis is based on ANOVA test of significance based on completely randomized design (CRD). The model showed significance (P>0.05) on the depth of operations but insignificant between the blades and pulverisation level and attributable with the design model having R2=0.44. It is expected that more models are needed to test the fitness of the designed blades.
This study investigates the influence of blade lifting angles, tractor forward speed, and tractor power take off (PTO) speed on the degree of mulching. Four blades with different lifting angles, two tractor PTO speeds, and three tractor forward speeds were assessed using the parametric test at the Universiti Putra Malaysia oil palm plantation. The result shows that the best-fit regression equation was a quadratic regression with a high coefficient of determination. It indicates that any change in this three-factor interaction has a significant effect using Tukey’s Studentized mean comparison and can predict the degree of mulching. Seventy-four percent of the degree of mulching variance is explained by blade lifting angles, tractor forward speed, and tractor PTO speed. Since the blade lifting angle was a major predictor of the degree of mulching, this result implies that any change in the blade lifting angle can provide a significant prediction of the degree of mulching in an oil palm plantation. Additionally, the predicted model can further be used to predict the degree of mulching during field operations, replanting, and access for mulching of oil palm fronds. A detailed field evaluation of the performance of a tractor-mounted mulcher with different blade lifting angles in other parts of Malaysia is highly recommended to cater for the differences in soil moisture content and bulk density.
Selection of the optimum diameter of Spikes and Shafts used on Maize sheller in Nigeria is a major problem for the local fabricators due to which they either over size those components leading to high cost of the shellers or under size them leading to failure of the shellers during operation. To determine the optimum size of the spikes and shaft to be used on Maize sheller, Finite Element Analysis (FEA) were carried out using SolidWorks Premium 2019, to determine the maximum Vonmises Stress, deflection and minimum factor of Safety of those components using the most common size of spikes and shafts used in developing Maize shellers in Bauchi State Nigeria and to recommend the most suitable sizes to be used. From the Simulation of the various sizes of the spikes, it was found that the best size of ribars to be used as the spikes for maize Shellers is either 12 or 14 mm. 12 mm will be subjected to maximum Vonmises stress of 103.092 Mpa at a factor of safety of 2.716 while 14 mm will be subjected to a Maximum stress of 76.57 Mpa at a factor of Safety of 3.66. The most suitable Size for the Shelling shaft was determined to be 20 mm which will be subjected to a maximum Vonmises Stress of 73.32 Mpa at a factor of Safety of 4.8 with a maximum deflection of 0.09 mm.
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