Structural Design Optimization for Pedal Operated Paddy Thresher using Response Surface Methodology
Keywords:
Paddy, Threshing, POPT, Machine parameters, RSM, OptimizeAbstract
Paddy is the main crop in India grown in about 44 million ha area. Threshing of paddy is one of the most widely used practice in India. Traditional methods of threshing are still prevalent in most of the parts of North-Eastern region. The farming community of the North-Eastern region faces some difficulties in adoption due to low productivity, inadequate design, and injuries during threshing.This study made an attempt to optimize the most significant design parameter of pedal operated paddy thresher (POPT) such as loop spacing, tip height, drum peripheral speed and number of the strip in the periphery of drum to achieve the optimum threshing capacity using Response surface methodology (RSM) in Design Expert v7 tool. From the analysis of variance (ANOVA), results indicated that the linear term of loop spacing and tip height; interaction term of drum peripheral speed and strip numbers and the quadratic term of loop spacing and drum peripheral speed have more influence on the response (P<0.05). The coefficient of determination (R2) of the model was 0.95 which indicate a good fit between the predicted value and the experimental value. For machine parameter, optimize design dimensions are-loop spacing 4.01 cm, Tip height 5.21 cm, drum peripheral speed 395 rpm and the number of strips 14. At optimum condition of machine parameters, the threshing capacity was found approximately 53 kg/h with minimal worker’s discomfort.
Author Biography
Thaneswer Patel
Thaneswer Patel is working as Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural Engineering, North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology (NERIST), Nirjuli (Itanagar), Arunachal Pradesh, India since 2006. His previous professional excellences include working for Project Officer in AICRP sponsored project in 2005-2006 at Agricultural & Food Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology IIT Kharagpur. He has received B. Tech in Agricultural Engineering (2001) from College of Agricultural Engineering, Jabalpur (M.P.), and M. Tech in specialization of Farm Machinery & Power (2004) from Indian Institute of Technology IIT Kharagpur. He has done Ph. D from Design Department at Indian Institute of Technology IIT Guwahati. He is now working in the fields of Agricultural Tools and Equipment Design, Physical Ergonomics, Occupational Ergonomics, Virtual Ergonomic and Evaluation with Digital Human Modeling Software. He is member of different scientific communities such as Indian Society for Technical Education (ISTE), Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers (ISAE), Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA), Solar Energy Society of India (SESI) etc. He is actively involved in teaching and research. He has guided many B. Tech thesis and M. Tech Thesis. He has published a good number of research papers in various reputed National and International Journals.
