• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.30 no.3 s.110
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• pp.141-146
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• 2005

Worldwide consumption of vegetable soybean has been increasing recently, but, in the process of vegetable soybean production threshing and seperation work accounts for about $80\%$ of overall labor. Therefore, developing of the vegetable soybean thresher is necessary to reduce the cost of labor. The main objective of this study is to develop the vegetable soybean thresher which is suitable for domestic circumstances. The threshing and separating performance, operating cost, and field capacity of developed vegetable soybean thresher are investigated and analysed. The results are as follows. The effective field capacity of the developed vegetable soybean thresher was shown as 4.8hr/10a, and reduced as much as 11.7 times compared with human labor. The ratio of unthreshed soybean-pod to stem after threshing work was shown as $1.5\%$ and the damaged pod ratio of detached soybean was shown as $1.8\%$. The cost of human labor was shown as 2,560,000 won/ha, but the operating of the developed vegetable soybean thresher was shown as 503,000won/ha. If the vegetable soybean thresher would be used in our farm, the minimum cultivation area appeard to be 22.7a for the cost effective management.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.380-386
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• 2010

This study was carried out to develop soybean thresher which is able to reduce the soybean threshing damage in comparison to the conventional thresher. A threshing cylinder with different diameter of 480 and 384 mm at each end and with one quarter disc pegs of 60 mm radius was developed and attached to the prototype thresher. A conventional thresher which has a threshing cylinder with $\wedge$ type threshing pegs and same diameter of 480 mm at each end was used for comparative test. A series of comparative performance test was conducted using sun-yu and chung-ja soybean. For sun-yu bean, which is white and usually used for soybean paste and soy sauce, the ratio of damaged beans of prototype ranged 2-3% for 330-360 rpm which is recommended cylinder speed by manufacturer. The ratio of damaged beans of conventional thresher was 3-4% for the same range of cylinder speed. chung-ja beans with black color usually shows high damaged ratio compared with white beans, thus cylinder speed of 250-300 rpm is recommended by manufacturer to reduce the damaged ratio. For this range of cylinder speed, the damaged ratio of prototype was 1.3-1.4% and it was 2.7-6.1% for the conventional thresher. Thus prototype is able to reduce the damaged ratio 1.5-5.0% compared with conventional thresher. Prototype shows 0.4% of unthreshed soybean ratio for sun-yu bean in the optimum range of cylinder speed and it was 0.87% for the conventional thresher. For chung-ja bean, the ratio of unthreshed soybean was almost same for both prototype and conventional thresher with the value of 4.0%. The reason of high unthreshed soybean ratio for chung-ja bean compared sun-yu bean is due to the high seed moisture content of 29.11% which is much higher than that of the recommended.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.33-46
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• 2019

In present study, Operational Modal Analysis (OMA) was employed to carry out the dynamic and vibration analysis of the threshing unit of the combine harvester thresher as a mechanical component. The main study is to find the causes of vibration and to decrease it to enhance the lifetime and efficiency of the threshing unit. By utilizing OMA, structural modal parameters such as mode shapes, natural frequencies, and damping ratio was calculated. The combine harvester was excited by engine to vibrate different parts and accelerometer sensor collected acceleration signals at different speeds, and OMA was utilized by nonparametric and frequency analysis methods to obtain modal parameters while vibrating in real working conditions. Afterwards, finite element model was designed from the thresher and updated using the data obtained from the modal analysis. Using the conducted analyses, it was specified that proximity of the thresher pass frequency to one of the natural frequencies (16.64 Hz) was the most important effect of vibration in the thresher. Modification process of the structure was carried out by increasing mass required for changing the natural frequency location of the first mode to 12.4 Hz in order to reduce resonance and vibration of the thresher.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.60-72
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• 1981

This study was carried out to find out the effects of the sheaf size of paddy harvested by the binders on the threshing performance, load characteristics and power requirement of an auto-feed thresher. The results of the study are summarized as follows: 1. The seperating performance of the thresher appeared to be satisfactory for all the sheaf sizes although the amount of rubbishes and empty grains slightly increased with the sheaf size of paddy. 2. There was no significant difference in grain output quality of the thresher among the three sheaf sizes. However, the amount of grains left unthreshed increased with the sheaf size. In the case of the largest sheaf size with the feed rate of 780kg/h, it exceeded the limit set by the national inspection regulations. 3. The position of the feed-chain rail gave a significant effect on the power requirement of the thresher. At the feed rate of 780kg/h, the net power required to convey sheafs through the feed chain was in the range of 0.37 to 0.50 PS for the middle and lowest position of feed-chain rail, and there was no significant difference among the sheaf sizes. At the highest position, however, it appeared that the smallest sheaf required more power than the others. The net power requirements at this position were 1.03, 0.59. 0.65 PS for the smallest, medium and largest sheafs respectively. 4. The torques of both the thresher and the engine shaft increased with the feed rate and were not affected by the sheaf size for the lower two feed rates of 520 and 780kg/h. At the highest feed rate of 1,040 kg/h, however, they were affected by the sheaf size. In this case, the medium sheaf size gave lower values than the others. 5. The variations in the thresher and the engine torque increased with the feed rate and were not affected by the sheaf size for the feed rate of 520kg/h. At the feed rate of 780kg/h, however, they increased with sheaf size. And at the feed rate of 1,040 kg/h, the torque variations increased greatly for all the sheaf sizes due to an over-load operating condition. 6. It appeared that the average and maximum power requirements of the thresher increased with the feed rate. But, there was no significant difference in power requirement among the sheaf sizes for the lower two feed rates. 7. The threshing efficiency of the thresher was in the range of 214-249 kg/ps.h with the feed rates of 520 and 780 kg/h, and it was not affected by both the sheaf size and the feed rate. At the feed rate of 1,040 kg/h, however, it decreased to as low as 171-174 kg/ps.h because of a sudden increase in power requirement. 8. The average power requirements of the engine were slightly higher than those of the thresher due to the slippage of flat belt between the thresher and engine. It appeared that power transmission from the engine to the thresher was maintained properly since slippages were moderately low with the range of 2.78 to 6.51% throughout the tests. 9. The specific fuel consumption of the engine (diesel 8PS) decreased as the feed rate increased. However, there was no significant reduction in specific fuel consumption as the feed rate increased above 780 kg/h.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.3878-3884
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• 1975

This study was carried out to develop the throw-in type thresher with its size as small as possible. Developing the smallest possible size of the throw-in type thresher has been very important to increase mobility and to reduce the machine price. The thresher that developed for this purpose was tested as to threshing and separation performance for the samples collected in eight catch boxes under the concave while threshing. The amount of grain collected in each compartments was measured and the threshing and separating pattern along the total span of the threshing drum was determined. The performance of separating and threshing units of the test thresher and threshing loss was evaluated by use of the developed grain separating apparatus and the method for measuring the grain separating performance of threshers. The results are summarized as follows; 1. The unthreshed grain (drum losses) and semi-threshed grain did not appeared at all throughout the treatments. 2. When threshed by making use of the developed throw-in type thresher, the threshing grain loss at about 25 per cent grain moisture was about one-half when threshed at about 18 per cent grain moisture. 3. And its grain separating loss in higher feed rate was decreased in comparison with that of lower feed rate. These results suggests that the throw-in type thresher may be suitable for wet threshing and for higher feed rate of threshing. 4. Above 60 per cent of total grain passing through concave fell through the screen within a scant 30 cm from the feeding inlet. This threshing pattern may suggest that major threshing action may be finished before about one third of cylinder length. The required separating load extended over the whole drum span is so defferent that separating elements should be redesigned so as to accomodate this variable pattern of separation load. 5. It was apparent from the experiment that the length of the threshing drum of the throw-in type thresher could be reduced from 1285mm to about 1050mm without increasing grain separation loss greatly.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.29 no.5 s.106
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• pp.433-440
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• 2004

Worldwide consumption of vegetable soybean has been increasing recently, but in the process of vegetable soybean production, threshing and separation work accounts fur about $80\%$ of overall labor. Therefore, developing of the vegetable soybean thresher is necessary to reduce the cost of labor. The main objective of this study is to acquire the basic in-formations for design of the vegetable soybean thresher which is suitable for domestic circumstances. We made the experimental system to investigate the threshing and separating performance at the several speeds of threshing cylinder and separating blower according to the kinds of threshing tooth. The result are as follows; Threshing performance of vegetable soybean thresher was shown as the best in case the threshing tooth made of rubber which has the 80 of Shore hardness was used at the circumference speed of cylinder of 5.8$\~$8.1m/s. Also separating cleaning performance of vegetable soybean thresher was shown as the best at more than 1,300 rpm of blower speed and $60\~80\%$ of opening ratio of suction port.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.20-31
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• 1988

This study was undertaken to investigate the load characteristics of the head-feed thresher, which may be affected by various factors such as physical properties of grain, thresher design parameters and its operational condition. The study was conducted at an initial step toward developing an automatic feed-rate control system of the head-feed thresher. A microcomputer-based data acquisition system for the load-speed characteristic of the thresher-shaft and the rail-deflection of the feeding device in accordance with a varied feeding thickness was developed. The sensors being developed and used for sensing the torque and speed of the cylinder and the power-input-shaft and the feeding thickness showed a high accuracy. A microcomputer-based data acquisition system developed in this study was assessed as adequate for a rapid acquisition and analysis of data. The effect of the feed-rate on the torque and speed of the thresher shaft, when fed intermittently by bundles, affected not by the rice varieties but by the dryness of threshing material tested. When fed by the continuous constant thickness, the torque and speed of the cylinder due to the increase of the feed-rate or feeding thickness were given by the relation by the second order parabola.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 1980

Threshing operation may be one of the most important processes in the paddy post-production system as far as the grain loss and labor requirement are concerned . head-feeding type threshers commercially available now in Korea originally were developed for threshing dry paddy in the range of 15 to 17 % in wet basis. However, threshing wet-paddy with the grain moisture content above 20 % has been strongly recommended, especially for new high-yielding Indica -type varieties ; (1) to reduce high grain loss incurred due to the handling operations, and (2) to prevent the quantitative and qualitative loss of milled -rice when unthreshed grains are rewetted due to the rainfall. The objective of this study were to investigate the adaptability of both a head-feeding type thresher and a throw-in type thresher to wet-paddy , and to find out the possiblilities of improving the components of these threshers threshing. Four varieties, Suweon 264 and Milyang 24 as Tongil sister line varieties, minehikari and Jinhueng as Japonica-type varieties, were used at the different levels of the moisture content of grains. Both the feed rate and the cylinder speed were varied for each material and each machine. The thresher output quality , composition of tailing return, and separating loss were analyzed from the sampels taken at each treatment. A separate experiment for measurement opf the power requirement of the head-feeding type thresher was also performed. The results are summarized as follows : 1. There was a difference in the thresher output quality between rice varieties. In case of wet-paddy threshing at 550 rpm , grains with branchlet and torn heads for the Suweon 264 were 12 % and 7 % of the total output in weight, respectively, and for the Minehikari 4.5 % and 2 % respectively. In case of dry paddy threshing , those for the Suweon 264 were 8 % and 5% , and for the Minehikari 4% and 1% respectively. However, those for the Milyang 23 , which is highly susceptable to shattering, were much lower with 1 % and 0.5% respectively, regardless of the moisture content of the paddy. Therefore, it is desirable to breed rice varieties of the same physical properties as well as to improve a thresher adaptable to all the varieties. Torn heads, which increased with the moisture content of rall the varieties except the Milyang 23 , decreased as the cylinder speed increased, but grains with branchlet didnt decrease. The damaged kernels increased with the cylinder speed. 3. The thresher output quality was not affected much by the feed rate. But grains with branchlet and torn heads increased slightly with the feed rate for the head-feeding type thresher since higher resistance lowered at the cylinder speed. 4. In order to reduce grains with branchlet and torn heads in wet-paddy threshing , it is desirable to improve the head-feeding type thresher by developing a new type of cylinder which to not give excess impact on kernels or a concave which has differenct sizes of holes at different locations along the cylinder. 5. For the head-feeding type thresher, there was a difference in separating loss between the varieties. At the cylinder speed of 600 rpm the separating losses for the Minehikari and the Suweon 264 were 1.2% and 0.6% respectively. The separating loss of the head-feeding type thresher was not affected by the moisture content of paddy while that of the Mini-aged thresher increased with the moisture content. 6. From the analysis of the tailings return , to appeared that the tailings return mechanism didn't function properly because lots of single grains and rubbishes were unnecessarily returned. 7. Adding a vibrating sieve to the head-feeding type thresher could increase the efficiency of separation. Consequently , the tailing return mechanism would function properly since unnecessary return could be educed greatly. 8. The power required for the head-feeding type thresher was not affected by the moisture content of paddy, but the average power increased linearly with the feed rate. The power also increased with the cylinder speed.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.33-47
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• 1982

To modernize the conventional rice post production technology and reduce grain losses, a transition toward the wet-paddy threshing system has been strongly demanded. The head-feeding type thresher with pneumatic separation has been used dominantly for threshing dried-paddy, but some adverse effects in separation performance for threshing wet-paddy is encounterred. In order to solve the problems, the development of thresher with an additional oscillating sieve to the conventional pneumatic separation has been recommanded. This study was intended to evaluate the separating performance of thresher with oscillating sieve which was attached additionally to the conventional auto-thresher equipped with separation system of blower and suction fan. For different feed rates and rice varieties, wet-and dry-material were tested with threshers attached with and without oscillating sieve. Results of the study are summarized as follows: 1. When the feed rates were 480 and 640 kg/hr, there was no statistically significant difference in power reqirements between the threshers with and without an additional sieve device for both dry-and wet-threshing. However, when the feed rate was 960 kg/hr, power requirements of thresher without sieve were greater for wet-paddy threshing than the thresher with the additional sieve separator by about 20% points. 2. With additional oscillating sieve device, the ratios of total weights of whole grains including grains with branch let and damaged grains to the total output did not show statistical difference among the feed rates. However, with pneumatic separation the ratio was decreased as the level of feed rate increased. 3. The total amount of grains with branchlet (including broken panicle) increased with the moisture content. For both the wet-and dry-material threshing with the additional oscillating sieve, the percent of grains with branchlet to the total output decreased greatly as the feed rate increased. 4. The output of the damaged grains increased as moisture content decreased. Especially, for the dry-paddy threshing, the additional sieve separating device produced more damaged grains than the pneumatic separation at all feed rates. 5. Generally, for dry paddy threshing, the separating performance of the thresher with the additional sieve device was better at all feed rates, showing greater difference with increasing feed rates. 6. Separating losses were greater with the pneumatic than sieve separation for both the wet-and dry-threshing. 7. The overall comparison of separating performance of threshers tested with and without an additional sieve device showed that the former was more effective than the latter for the dry-material threshing. However, for the wet-paddy threshing, the separation performance with a sieve device was better than the pneumatic only when the feed rate was high.

• Current Research on Agriculture and Life Sciences
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• v.21
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• pp.23-29
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• 2003

Worldwide consumption of vegetable soybean bas been increasing recently, hence it is necessary to produce good quality of soybean in our farms. In the process of vegetable soybean production threshing and seperation work accounts for about 80% of overall labor. Therefore, developing of the vegetable soybean thresher is necessary to reduce the cost of labor. The purpose of this study is to acquire the basic informations to design of the vegetable soybeans-thresher. We make the experimental system which measure the physical properties and investigate the detachment forces. Also, We calculated the minimum speed of threshing cylinder. The result are as follows; 1. The average length of soybean stem is 68.2cm. 2. The length of soybean pods are seen as 61.3mm for 3 grain, 52.6mm fer 2 grains and 41.0mm fer 1 grain 3. The widths of soybean pods are seen as 14.1mm fer 3 grain, 13.8mm fer 2 grains and 13.4mm fer 1 grain. 4. The weights of soybean pods are seen as 4.1grams for 3 grains, 2.7grams for 2 grains and 1.4grams for 1 grain. 5. The average detachment forces of pods are seen as 1.5kgf for 3 grains, 1.2kgf for 2 grains and 0.8kgf for 1 grain respectively For 1 grain, the detachment force of pods ranges from 0.2kgf to 1.4kgf. For 2 grains, the minimum detachment force of pods is seen as 0.6kgf and the maximum one is seen as 2.5kgf. For 3 grains, the minimum detachment force of pods is seen as 0.7kgf and the maximum one is seen as 2.7kgf. 6. The minimum speed of threshing cylinder is shown 6.83m/s.