Engineering and Economic Evaluation of a Prototype Fabricated for Harvesting Sugarcane

A sugarcane harvester prototype was fabricated and evaluated to save time, labor, and harvesting expenses, which are included in production costs. The single-row harvester prototype fits the functional needs of the physical qualities of sugarcane and was designed to be installed on a tractor. One se...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ahmed Mohamed El Shal, Yasser Sayed Mazrou, Mohamed Ibrahim El Didamony
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-04-01
Series:Designs
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2411-9660/6/3/40
Description
Summary:A sugarcane harvester prototype was fabricated and evaluated to save time, labor, and harvesting expenses, which are included in production costs. The single-row harvester prototype fits the functional needs of the physical qualities of sugarcane and was designed to be installed on a tractor. One serrated edge cutter disc, three forward speeds, and three cutter disc speeds were used to evaluate the performance of the fabricated sugarcane harvester. The results of the technical evaluation showed that the average forward speed was 5 km h<sup>−1</sup>, and the average cutter disc speed was 2000 rpm by a cutter disc with a serrated edge produced the ideal sugarcane harvesting parameters. The actual field capacity, the power required and the specific energy requirements, were determined. Despite that economic evaluation empathies that the combination of 3.5 km h<sup>−1</sup> forward speed and a 1000 rpm cutting speed also achieved the highest benefits ($115.12/ha).
ISSN:2411-9660