Studies on Operational Frequencies of Controls on Self-propelled Combine Harvesters in India

Abstract

A study was conducted to measure the operational frequencies of various controls on self-propelled combine harvesters and to categorize them into frequently and infrequently operated controls. The operational frequency of controls on 10 combine harvesters of different makes and models were measured during harvesting of wheat crop. The frequency of use of frequently operated controls viz. header assembly control lever, ground speed control lever, gear shift lever, brake pedal, and clutch pedal ranged 232-484, 43-170, 41- 135, 42-140, and 66-162 action.h-1, respectively. The percent time distributions of operation of controls were 44.84, 13.40, 12.21, 13.10, and 16.42%, respectively. The controls on the combine harvesters used repetitively that require high level of human effort. Therefore, to accommodate 90% of user population, the most frequently operated controls should preferably be placed in the optimum reach zone, and infrequently used controls can be conveniently placed within maximum reach zone of operators’ reach envelope.

Design and Test of Automatic Control System for Header Height of Combine Harvester

“…The automatic control of the header height is an important aspect. As an important parameter in the operation process of the actual harvester (Shukla et al, 2021;Shojaei et al, 2021), the height of header is easy to cause ear loss and grain loss too high, and the increase of stubble height will significantly improve the operating power consumption of the cultivator and increase the operating cost. When the header height is low, it is easy to touch soil and cause machine failure (Ni et al, 2021).…”