Performance Evaluation of Diesel Engine Operated High-speed Chaff Cutter

Abstract

Dairy farming has become one of major sources of income for farmers. To maintain a large dairy farm, fodder must be available in palatable form at every point of time in sufficient quantity. To ensure that the ready fodder is available for cattle, a high-capacity chaff cutter is necessary. A high speed and  hogh-capacity chaff cutter procured from the local market and tested for its performance. The machine consisted of a flywheel type cutter head which was mounted on the rectangular platform. The cutter head consisted of three rectangular plain knives fixed 120° apart on a circular disc of 440 ϕ. The feeding assembly was mounted with three feed rollers viz., upper, low, and additional. Chute type feeding mechanism was provided. The machine was operated by a 3.73 kW diesel engine.  The ‘v’ belt was provided for power transmission from engine to cutter head with a reduction ratio of 1:0.32. Feed rollers were driven by bevel and spur gears. Short run and long run evaluation of the machine were conducted for napier grass and dry jowar. The variation in length of cut pieces was found to be 8.39% and 5.78% for dry jowar and napier grass, respectively. Quality of cut was calculated and found to be -0.80 for dry jowar and -0.53 for napier grass. The average efficiency of the machine was found to be 86.87% and 88.93% for dry jowar and napier grass, respectively. The average diesel consumption was found to be 0.69 l h-1.