| Author | Chaiyan Sirikun |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.AE-09-09 |
| Subject(s) | Cassava--Thailand
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| Note | A thesis sub mitted in par tial f ulfillm ent of the req uirem ents f or the degree of Master of Engineering in Agricultu ral System s and Engineering, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. AE-09-09 |
| Abstract | Cassava is one of the major economical crops in Thailand, practically faces two major problems, namely, high labor cost, and labor shortage during the harvesting operation. The labor shortage during the harvesting operation of cassava is typically due the coincident duration of the harvesting period of the other upland crops. However, harvesting of cassava is a tedious and labor intensive task. Typically, harvesting operation of cassava stem orderly comprises as stem cutting and stems collecting. Therefore, a machine for cutting and collecting of cassava stem is needed by the farmers in order to reduce the labor requirement, human drudgery and harvesting time. Due to there reasons, cassava stem harvester, mounted to and powered by a 60-90 hp tractor, was designed. The machine comprises of six major units, namely: cutting unit, conveyor unit, collector unit, hydraulic system, transmission unit and frame. The designed cassava stem harvester is able to cut and collect the cassava stems. As the tractor moves forward for pulling the machine along the planting furrows, the cutting unit cut the stem 200-350 mm above ground, stem are automatically gripped and conveyed by the conveyor unit. Then, the cassava stem are collected into the collector unit. After testing and modifications, a prototype of cassava stem harvester was designed. Three traveling speeds of 1.51, 2.17 and 2.44 km/h were used for testing. The average field capacity and field efficiency varied from 0.13 to 0.22 ha/h and 75.61 to 90.24 % respectively. Fuel consumption of the speed range tested was between 15.3 and 20.8 lit/ha. The break-even-point compared to the manual harvesting was found to be 35 ha/year at tractor traveling speed low-2 (2.17 km/h). |
| Year | 2009 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis ; no. AE-09-09 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (Former title: Department of Food Agriculture, and BioResources (DFAB)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Agricultural and Food Engineering (AE) |
| Chairperson(s) | Salokhe, Vilas M. |
| Examination Committee(s) | Jayasuriya, H. P. W.;Soni, Peeyush;Roongruang Kalsirisilp |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Asian Institute of Technolog Felllowship;Royal Thai Government Fellowship |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2009 |