2022

AGRICULTURAL AND BIOSYSTEMS ENGINEERING

BOARD EXAM REVIEWER

HUMAN POWER
by

Engr. Alexis T. Belonio, MS

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineer
ASEAN Engineer

Volume 1 – Agricultural Power and Energy

 Introduction

• Human power has been utilized as source of power since time

immemorial.
• Before the mechanization, human power is utilized in various farm
works such as land preparation, seeding and planting, harvesting,
and other processing operations.
• At present, human power is still utilized in regions where labor is
sufficient and mechanization is not fully emphasized.
• By definition, human power is the work or energy produced from
the human body. It is the rate of work done by human per unit time.
It comes primarily from human muscles.
Power Output and Energy Requirement

• Human can develop a total power of 0.5hp from the food he eats.
• Of this total power, 0.1hp is available for useful work and the
remaining is used for body functions.
• A man can generate 15% more power when he is younger at 20
years of age, and 20% less when he gets older at 60 years of
age.
• Man muscles can provide an overload power of approximately
0.6hp-min.
• Man can generate about 0.27 to 0.53hp useful power by pedaling.
• Minimum energy requirement is 2000 cal per day.
• Conversion efficiency is 25%.
• Working efficiency is high under normal atmospheric condition
but decreases under hot and humid climate.

Advantage and Disadvantages

• Intelligence
– Decision making
– Manual dexterity
• Low power available
– Cannot compete with animals
– Not comparable with engine as a source of power
– Not suitable as power source for repetitive tasks
 Human Power Applications

• Plowing and harrowing using draft animals

• Operating agricultural machines, such as tractors and self-
propelled machines
• Seeding and planting operations
• Spraying and weeding tasks
• Harvesting using sickles
• Cleaning of grains
• Operating threshers and shellers
• Sundrying of crops
• Handling of crops
• Operating rice mills and other processing equipment
inside the plant
• Operating pumps, irrigation equipment and structures
• Feeding farm animals
• Manual pressing of oil
• Grinding corn
• Pressing sugar cane to produce juice
• Water pumping for domestic water supply and for crop
irrigation
• Milling rice using mortar and pestle
• Pedal threshing
 Human Power Consumption for
Various Farming Activities
Activity Gross Power (Watts)
Clearing bush and scrub 400 – 600
Felling trees 600
Hoeing 300-500
Ridging, deep digging 400-1000
Planting 200-300
Plowing with animal draft 350-550
Driving single-axle tractors 350-650
Driving 4-wheel tractor 150-350
Driving car on farm 150
 Some Field Operation Rates by
Farmers Using Hand-Tools

Operation Average Human Work Rate

(Man-days/ha)
Land Clearing 32.6
Ridging for Cassava 43.8
Mound Making for Yam 57.8
Cassava Planting 28.3
Yam Planting 28.3
Weeding Root Crops 36.7
Weeding, general 40.0
Cassava Harvesting 28.5
Yam Harvesting 32.0
 Man-Hour Requirement per Hectare of
Various Agricultural Operations

Operation Persons-hr/ha
Tillage with hoe 100-300
Water buffalo plowing flooded soil 30 – 60
Water buffalo comb harrowing 40 – 60
5hp power tiller plowing wet soil 20 –40
10hp hydro tiller 4.4
Broadcasting 3.3
Hand weeding transplanted rice 120 - 320
Harvesting rice with sickle 60 –80
5hp IRRI axial-flow thresher, 4 men feeding 350 – 700 kg/hr
 Power Formula

(1) Power (2) Rest Period

Pg = 0.35 – 0.092 log t Tr = 60 ( 1 – 250 / P )

where: where:

Pg - generated power, hp Tr - required rest period,

t - time, min min/hr
P - actual rate of energy
consumption, watts
A person is asked to pump water for 4 hours. Compute the power
that can be generated by the person.

Given: t – 4 hours

Required: power generated

Solution:
Pg = 0.35 – 0.092 log ( 4 hr x 60 min/hr)
= 0.35 – 0.092 log (240 min)
= 0.13 hp
Find the rest period of a person doing manual ridging with gross power
of 500 watts. If he works for 4 hours, determine the total time of rest
needed by the person.

Given:
Operation - manual ridging
Gross power - 500 watts
Total Work period - 4 hours

Required: Rest period in min/hr and total rest period in min

Solution:
Tr = 60 (1-250/P)
= 60 (1-250 / 500 watts)
= 30 min per every hour of work
Number of Persons Needed

No. of Persons = Man-hour per ha x No. of Hectares (ha)

x Operating time (hr)

Time to Finish Work

Time (hr) = No. of Persons / [Man-hour per ha

x No. of hectares (ha)]

Area Covered

No. of Hectares (ha) = No. of Persons / [Man-hour per ha

x Operating Time (hr)]
A ten-hectare farm is to be planted with mongo by broadcasting. The
owner of the farm wishes that the planting be finished within one day
(8 hrs per day). How many people would be required to do the job?

Given:
Area of the farm- 10 hectares
Operating Time - one day @ 8 hours

Required:
No. of persons to employ
Solution:
No. of person = 3.3 person-hr/ha x 10 ha / 8 hr
= 4.1 persons use, 5 person
There are 50 persons employed in harvesting rice. They will be
harvesting from a 2-hectare rice farm. If they start harvesting at 8
o’clock in the morning, at what time would they be able to finish?

Given:
No. of persons - 50
Area to be harvested - 2 hectares
Time started - 8 am
Required:
Time to end harvesting
Solution :
No. of Hours = 60 man-hr/ha x 2 ha / 50 man
= 2.2 hrs

Time to finish harvesting is 10:12 AM

 Human-Powered Tools and Machines
• A machine is a device or a mechanical contrivance consisting of
two or more relatively constrained components which is energized
by a power source to transmit and/or modify force and motion to
accomplish some desired kind of work.
• Tool is a human-powered instrument or implement usually without
parts that move relative to one another like hoe, dibbler. It is used
to facilitate mechanical manual operation.
• Classifications of Tools and Manually-Operated Machines
(1) Hand Tools for Land Preparation – These include hoe which is
commonly used for primary and secondary tillage during land
preparation, machete/spade, etc. for land clearing and other
crop production operations.
(2) Manual Planting Tools and Machines – These include hoes for
ridging, bedding, manual planter like dibblers, jab planter, seed
drill, and others.
(3) Manual Weeding Tools and Machines – These include hoes,
rotary hoes and wheeled-cultivators, slashers, etc.
(4) Manual Harvesting Tools and Machines – These include hoes,
diggers and lifters, sickles, scythes, and harvesting hooks.
 References
• Campbell, J. K. 1990. Dibble Sticks, Donkey, and Diesels.
Machines in Crop Production. The International Rice Research
Institute, Los Banos, Laguna. 329pp.
• CIGR. Plant Production Engineering. Volume III. CIGR Handbook
of Agricultural Engineering. American Society of Agricultural
Engineer. USA. pp. 1-22.
• Human Power. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_power
• Johnson, L. Power Requirements in Rice production. The
International Rice Research Institute, Los Banos, Laguna. 29pp.
• Stout, B.A.(ed). Plant Production Engineering. CGIR Handbook
of Agricultural Engineering. Volume III. ASAE.
QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS
1. Rate of work done by human 4. Amount of power human can
body. develop from the food he eats.
a. Human work a. 0.12 hp
b. Human Power b. 0.25 hp
c. Human Energy c. 0.50 hp
d. None of the above d. None of the above

2. Amount of power available in 5. Minimum energy requirement of

human for useful work. human.
a. 0.5 hp a. 1,250 cal/day
b. 0.25 hp b. 1,500 cal/day
c. 0.1 hp c. 1,750 cal/day
d. None of the above d. 2,000 cal/day
e. None of the above
3. If the average power available in
human is 0.1 hp, how much power a 6. A person is doing a work for 4
16-year old person can generate? hours, what is the power developed
a. 0.20 5 hp by that person?
b. 0.152 hp a. 0.09 hp
c. 0.115 hp b. 0.13 hp
d. None of the above c. 0.15 hp
d. None of the above
7. How much power can a human 10. Conversion efficiency of human.
generate for 8-hour working period? a. 10%
a. 0.095 hp b. 15%
b. 0.103 hp c. 20%
c. 0.152 hp d. 25%
d. None of the above e. None of the above

8. A ten-hectare farm is to be 11. Power human can develop by

planted with rice by broadcasting. If pedaling.
seeding is required to be finished a. 0.27 to 0.53 hp
within one day, how many people b. 0.54 to 0.75 hp
would you recommend to do the c. 0.76 to 1.00 hp
job? d. None of the above
a. 3 persons
b. 5 persons 12. Which of the following is not a
c. 6 persons manually-operated machine?
d. None of the above a. Mortar and pestle
b. Pedal thresher
9. Manpower requirement in c. Dibbler
transplanting rice. d. None of the above.
a. 15-20 man-days / hectare
b. 20-25 man-days / hectare
c. 25-30 man-days / hectare
d. None of the above
13. Human efficiency during hot and
during humid conditions ____.
a. increases
b. decreases
c. remains the same
d. None of the above
14. Ten hectares of rice farm is to be
harvested manually in 2 days using
sickles (8hr/day). If the field
efficiency is 80% and the man-
hour/hectare for harvesting is 60,
how many persons will be needed to
harvest the rice from the 10-hectare
farm?
a. 27 persons
b. 37 persons
c. 47 persons
d. None of the above
15. Amount of food energy needed to
balance energy expenditure in order
to maintain body size, body
composition and a level of necessary
and desirable physical activity
consistent with long-term good
health.
a. Food intake
b. Energy balance
c. Energy requirement
d. None of the above
16. Average energy spent in a 24-
hour period by an individual or
groups of individuals.
a. Total energy expenditures
b. Average energy expenditure
c. Human energy expenditure
d. None of the above
17. Major advantage of human
compared with other sources of
power.
a. Intelligence
b. More power available
c. Longer working time
d. None of the above
18. Disadvantage of human power
compared with animals and
machines is ____.
a. intelligence
b. low power available
c. All of the above
d. None of the above
19. Components of energy
requirement of human.
a. Metabolism
b. Metabolic response to food
c. Physical activity
d. Growth
e. All of the above
f. None of the above
20. Indicator of weight adequacy in
relation to height of human.
a. Body mass index
b. Body weight-to-height ratio
c. Body adequacy ratio
d. None of the above
21.Method to measure the daily
energy expenditure of human
based on the relationship of heat
rate and oxygen consumption and
on minute-by-minute monitoring of
heat rate.
a. Heart and oxygen monitoring
b. Daily energy expenditure
monitoring
c. Heart rate monitoring
d. None of the above
22. Human-power implement
without moving parts that facilitates
mechanical manual operation.
a. Tool
b. Machine
c. Instrument
d. None of the above