Scientific Journal of Impact Factor (SJIF): 5.71
e-ISSN (O): 2348-4470 p-ISSN (P): 2348-6406
International Journal of Advance Engineering and Research Development Volume 5, Issue 03, March -2018
Low Cost Sugarcane Bud Chipper M.D.Raj Kamal1, S.Asswin2, C.Balamurugan3, N.G.Jeeva4, A.P. Revanth Raam5 1
Assistant professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Velammal Institute of Technology 2 Student, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Velammal Institute of Technology 3 Student, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Velammal Institute of Technology 4 Student, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Velammal Institute of Technology 5 Student, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Velammal Institute of Technology
Abstract — Sugarcane is a crop of highest importance especially in a country like India where over 45 million people are practicing it and a majority of them are small scale farmers. To facilitate sugarcane cultivation highly sophisticated machines have been developed but however these machines cannot be afforded by small scale farmers. Hence it is required to develop a machine that can yield better results, provide high profits but still costs low on price and is simple in construction. Also in conventional method of sugarcane cultivation, the sugarcane is cut into pieces and is buried. However, only the bud alone is required enough for cultivating sugarcane. Our machine design facilitates the cutting of bud alone from the sugarcane and saves time compared to that of manual and other cutting processes. Our machine makes use of combined operation of a motor connected to a rotating circular disc which is further connected to a shaft which facilitates the reciprocating motion of a perpendicular cutter over the sugarcane, thus facilitating smooth cutting of bud from sugarcane. This design aims at simplifying the bud removal process by making use of the above mentioned machine which requires minimum human labour, less capital investment and saves time thus proving to be a profitable investment for every farmer Keywords- Bud Chipper, Cultivation, Farming, Sugarcane. I.
INTRODUCTION
Sugarcane is a crop of very high value in the present context of food and fuel crises. It is the most important sugar crop in the world. Presently it is considered as a multi-utility crop useful for producing sugar, ethanol, fibre, co generation of power, and a host of downstream products .It is one of the crops that will have to be increasingly depended upon by the humankind for its survival .Hence growing more sugarcane will be of great concern. Adoption of right and efficient technologies help in realizing higher yields of cane and sugar. In India sugarcane is one of the important commercial crops. Sugarcane is the main source of sugar in Asia and Europe. Sugarcane is an important commercial crop of the country occupying around 3.8 million hectares of land with an annual cane production of around 270 million tonnes. That is, it occupies about 2.8% of the cultivated land area and contributes about 7.5 % to the agricultural production in the country. Sugarcane is also the raw material for the production of white sugar, jiggery (gur) and khandsari. It is also used for chewing and extraction of juice for beverage purpose. The sugarcane cultivation and sugar industry in India plays a vital role towards socio-economic development in the rural areas by mobilizing rural resources and generating higher income and employment opportunities. About 7.5percent of the rural population, covering about 45 million sugarcane farmers, their dependents and a large number of agricultural labors are involved in sugar cane cultivation, harvesting and ancillary activities. There are about nine States in India where sugarcane is grown on a large extent of area. Thus it is understood that Sugarcane has highest amount of importance amongst farmers in India, but due to lack of proper, efficient and low cost technologies farmers face difficulties during planting and harvesting of Sugarcane, and these problems are largely faced by small scale farmers who lack monetary funds compared to that of large scale farmers who have enough monetary resources to adopt and use sophisticated machines for sugarcane cultivation. Hence the aim of this paper is to provide a machine design that costs low to manufacture and also simple in construction and operation and hence benefits the small scale farmers at large amount. II.
EXISITNG MACHINE AND ITS DRAWBACKS
The existing design consists of a punch operated by a lever and spring mechanism. When the punch is pressed, the lever and spring mechanism guides the cutter down, thus cutting the bud. However this machine takes up more amount of time to cut the required amount bud for an acre and demands the need of labour. In order to overcome these drawbacks we have come up with a machine design that facilitates the removal of bud from the sugarcane easily without heavy amount of time consumption and also using minimum human labour which will not be adding up as an essential processing cost to the farmers of sugarcane.
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