2023-24 Autumn

AG 39201:
Farm Machinery
Laboratory (0-0-3)
Department of Agricultural and Food Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
 Effects of weed
Yield loss

➢ Weeds affect crop yield about 45%

more as compared to insects and
diseases, due to competition to
acquire plant nutrients and
resources.
Health problem

➢ Some weeds like Parethenium hysterophours are poisons in nature which create
skin allergy, fever and asthma in human being.

➢ In areas such as California, hoe weeding and hand weeding was banned due
to permanent back damage in workers.

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( Source:- ICAR-DWSR, Jabalpur)
Manually operated weeding tool

• Hand how (Khurpa) • Spade (Kudal

• Push-pull weeder
Why automation is required ?

Compared to mechanical weeding :

➢To achieve the complete weeding

➢To reduce the yield loss and improve quality
➢To reduce the time and cost of operation
➢ To Increase the field efficiency
➢To reduce labour requirement
➢ To reduce the health problem
Inter and intra row weeds

W E
Direction
of motion
S

Wider row space- 0.3-0.7 m

Inter row area-80-90%
Intra row area-10-20%
Conceptual view of prototype of intra-row weeder

RVA

(1) Vertical axis rotor (RVA)

(2) Four bar linkage (FBL)
crank mechanism
(3) Sensor
(4) PMDC motor
(5) Controller Circuit box
(6) Virtual plant
Working principal of the inter and intra row
weeding system
Block diagram for plant signal to PMDC motor
control
Algorithm for plant signal to lateral shift control of
rotor
Process flow diagram of the ultrasonic plant signal
to motor actuation
inter and intra row weeder

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(1) Vertical axis rotor (VAR) for intra row, (2) VAR for inter row, (3) PMDC motor, (4) FBL
mechanism, (5) Proximity sensors, (6) Ultrasonic Sensors, (7) Bevel gear box, (8) Microcontroller
Circuit box, (9) PTO gear box, (10) Three point linkage dynamometer (11) load cell for draft, (12) PTO
torque transducer, (13) Data acquisition system
Mechatronics based inter and intra row weeding
system

❖ Weeding operation in both inter and intra row weeding zone.

❖ Useful for wider row crops i.e. Chili, Tomto, Okra etc.
Working demonstration (Soil bin)
Working demonstration
Performance

𝑊1 −𝑊2
Weeding efficiency 𝜂𝑤 =
𝑊1

Where,
𝑊1 Weed before the weeding operation per unit area
𝑊2 Weed after the weeding operation per unit area
Thank you!
Design of tool

• Direction of tool rotation is perpendicular to forward direction of motion

• Generally, Depth of weeding operation varies from 20 mm to 40 mm but late
weeding up to 60 mm. Keeping 20 mm clearance from rotor, 80 mm tool length is
selected.
• The rotor weeder has to cooperate with tractors of 30 and 45 hp respectively.
Power available at rotor shaft:
PPTO= Ptractor×0.746×ηt× ηr × ηl
Where,
PPTO = PTO power, kW
Ptractor = Tractor engine power, hp
ηt = Transmission efficiency, (0.8-0.9)
ηr = Reserve power of tractor, (0.8-0.85)
ηl = Power loss (4-6%) at soil tire and tool interaction (0.94-0.96)
Peripheral force (Ks) of rotor weeder shaft
Ks = PPTO / u
u = Rotor speed, v = 1 to 3 km/h
u/v =4
Tractor speed in L3 gear is 2.58 km/h, so speed of operation 2.58 km/h is
selected.
Rotor rpm for weeding operation – 180 to 220 rpm
Force acting on each blades
The designed peripheral force,
Ke = Ks×CP
Where,
CP = overload factor which takes care of fluctuation in the peripheral force during the
field operation.
CP is generally taken as 1.5 for stone less soil and 2.0 for stony soil.
Ke = Ks×Cp / i×n1×ne
Cp = Factor of safety = 2
i=number of rotors,
n1= number of blades on one rotor
ne = no. of blades strikes at a time
Actually, weeder is based on vertical axis rotation so assume that
i×n1×ne =24
Rotary hoe for inter-row weeder

Rotary Inter-row weeding hoe specifications

✓ Diameter : 350 mm
✓ Blade length : 105 mm
✓ Blade offset angle with direction of travel : 450
✓ Number of blades per hoe :9
✓ Maximum lateral shifting force : 90 N (in soil bin)
✓ Maximum torque encountered on intra- row weeding unit : 0.9 Nm