Design and development of an electric vertical conveyer reaper for paddy crop.

An electric vertical conveyer reaper (VCR) with a 600 mm cutting width (covering three to four rows of paddy) has been developed to replace the fossil fuel-operated VCR. Strength analysis was done on its intended components. The E-VCR was made compact and lightweight by using two power sources for the header and propelling units to reduce transmission losses. The header unit's power requirements were determined, and an 800 W, 48 V DC motor was selected for operating it. The E-VCR was propelled by a different DC motor of 350 W, 24 V, and 10 Nm. Additionally, to reduce transmission losses, the power transmission in the E-VCR was designed using worm gears, belt and pulley configurations, and chain and sprocket arrangements. Design torques of 45.34 Nm, 12.92 Nm, and 148.45 Nm, respectively, were determined for the header, conveyer, and propelling shafts. SolidWorks 2016 was used to generate the three-dimensional model of the E-VCR, and the ANSYS R20.0 workbench software's finite element analysis (FEA) was used to study the stress. To verify the design, a prototype E-VCR was developed and its performance was evaluated in harvesting two different varieties of paddy. In accordance with the design specifications, a prototype E-VCR was developed, with an overall dimension of 1970 × 988 × 1050 mm (length × width × height), and a total weight of 135 kg. From Finite Element Analysis (FEA), the deformation and equivalent Von Mises stress obtained for the selected header shaft, conveyer shaft and wheel shaft were found as 0.030 mm and 0.006 MPa; 0.004 mm and 12.738 MPa; 0.11 mm and 17.50 MPa, respectively. The transmission unit was designed safely since the stress and deformation of its shafts were found to be less than the maximum deformation and permitted stress of the material used. The prototype E-VCR has an average field capacity of 0.06 ha/h, when moving at a speed of 1.0 km/h, and can harvest paddy crops effectively for two hours without any power outages. The E-VCR prototype's field performance proved its design and sustainability for Indian small farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]