Quality of cut and basecutter blade configuration for the mechanized harvest of green sugarcane

Abstract

Quality control is used to evaluate processes and products, and is a powerful tool for reducing variability. The objective of this study was to evaluate the quality of green sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) cutting for mechanized harvest, using statistical quality control tools. Cutting height and damage to ratoon stalks caused by different blade and disc combinations of the basecutter mechanism were used as indicators of quality. Cutting height showed high variability with a controlled process for some treatments. However, these treatments were incapable of producing satisfactory results. The damage index was lower in treatments that used tilted blades, but above the target for all treatments, which caused signifi cant damage to the ratoons.In general, the process of mechanized harvest as assessed by these indicators was found incapable of achieving targeted results and staying below specifi cation limits, and thus requires corrective actions to improve quality.

Can Basal Cutting Blade Wear Affect Sugarcane Regrowth?

“…Ratoon damage and loss indexes were assessed by a single person who had already applied the method. Damage indexes (DI) were estimated by adapting the method of Toledo et al, (2013) which ranks damages to ratoons into three levels: without damage (0.00≤ DI <0.33), peripheral damage (0.33≤ DI ≤ 0.66), and extreme damage (0.66< DI ≤1.0). After identifying and counting existing damage types, found values were used to generate an index as per [eq.…”

“…Stolf et al (2016) defined plantation failures as empty spaces without stems in sugarcane rows, which are directly related to yield reductions. According to Toledo et al (2013), a major importance is given to growing failures during crop implantation, as they have a direct effect during this stage. During sugarcane development, some factors must be controlled such as weeds, drought, underground rhizome pests, trampling of ratoons, thus reducing plant stand failures (Stolf et al, 2016).…”

“…During sugarcane development, some factors must be controlled such as weeds, drought, underground rhizome pests, trampling of ratoons, thus reducing plant stand failures (Stolf et al, 2016). Toledo et al (2013) also stated that during harvesting blade types and conditions in harvesters can compromise plant stand due to damages and losses.…”

Failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) in mechanized harvest of sugarcane billets

“…-cutting height was delimited to a sample area through the square frame of 0.25 m 2 , disposed randomly in the harvested lines, right after the passage of the machine according to Toledo et al (2013). For this study, this indicator was considered as unstable by the technical staff, if there were 20% of the samples above the upper control limit (UCL); -damage to the ratoons was calculated through the damage index, representing in a single value the classification attributed to the ratoons for stems without damage (WD), with partial damage (PD) or fragmented damage (FD).…”

Monitoring of Soybean Mechanical Harvesting as a Function of Plot Shapes

“…Some authors have used statistical process control by means of the assessed variables as quality indicators to identify non-random causes or special causes due to process instability or variability (Naves et al, 2015;Zerbato et al, 2014;Compagnon et al, 2013;Toledo et al, 2013;Cassia et al, 2013;Chioderoli et al, 2012).…”