Development and Design Structure and Mechanism of Sugarcane Harvester with Leaf Pruning Machine

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to design, develop, and analyze the damaged structure and mechanism of sugarcane harvesters, then find suitable materials to use for sugarcane harvesters that respond to the needs of farmers. Nowadays, sugarcane harvesters are quite expensive. Consequently, most people prefer to harvest sugarcane by burning the leaves before cutting, which causes air pollution. The authors decided to start designing and developing the whole sugarcane cutting machine. The leaves and stems can be cut with a machine that only uses power from the power take-off shaft. The authors also analyzed the properties that affected the experiment's results. It can be concluded that in terms of the material, the properties should be considered as follows: The tensile value should be greater than 3700 psi and the shear strength should be at least 10000 psi to prevent material damage from turning and pruning leaves. Hardness, meanwhile, should be lower than Rockwell M110, so the material will not cause cane damage. The Flexural Modulus of Elasticity value is about 450,000 psi. The harvesters should be connected to a tractor that has 67 horsepower or more. The whole structure works as a whole system, with no parts broken during the 48-hour trial. The machine was optimally operated using 540 rpm. of power from the power shaft. The speed of the base-cutting, using the finish-made cutter, was 337.5 rpm. The nylon lawn trimmer is the best leaf pruning tool. It is because its softness did not cause the sugarcane any damage while having no tangle in its use, which led to an improvement of the machines. Results showed that harvesters can harvest up to 300 sugarcanes per hour using this machine.