The Effects of Moisture Content and Operating Time on the Chopping Capacity, Efficiency and Length on a Paddle Thrown Forage Chopper

Abstract

In a size reduction machine, energy requirement is important, which depends on initial particle size, moisture content, material properties, feed rate of the material and machine variables. Therefore, the objectives of this work were to carry out statistical analysis on the effects of moisture content and operating time on the chopping capacity, chopping efficiency and length of cut of a multi-crop paddle thrown forage chopper. Moisture contents of the samples forage (Guinea grass, Siam weed and Maize Stover) were determined by oven-dry method. The machine was tested using Philippine Agricultural Engineering Standard. Effects of moisture content and operating time on chopping efficiency, chopping capacity and length of cut of the machine were analysis using response surface design expert of 6.0.6 model. Independent variables were moisture contents and operating time. Responses were chopping capacity, chopping efficiency and length of cut.The results of the statistical analysis show that, moisture content and operating time have significant effects (p<0.05) on the chopping capacities at 5% significant level while their effects on efficiencies are not significant at 5% significant level due to the cutting knife parameters of the machine. More so, the length of cut increases with increase in moisture content but the effect was not significant.The chopping capacity, efficiency and length of cut are functions of the mechanical, physical properties of the material chopped and the cutting knife parameters of the machine.