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Performance evaluation of power chaff cutter

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ENGINEERING AND Volume 7 | Issue 1 | April, 2016 | 18-25 ARTICLE CHRONICLE :
Received : 18.12.15;
TECHNOLOGY e ISSN-2230-9284 | Visit us : www.researchjournal.co.in
Revised : 05.03.16;
IN INDIA DOI : 10.15740/HAS/ETI/7.1/ 18-25 Accepted : 14.03.16

RESEARCH PAPER

Performance evaluation of power chaff cutter

U.S. KANKAL, D.S. KARALE, V. P. KHAMBALKAR AND S.H. THAKARE

ABSTRACT
The ever increasing energy demand, unemployment in developing countries like India, Increased awareness of people towards
the health are some of the driving forces for the development of powered machines. The experimentation has been carried out
on a fodder cutter energized by electrical power. Fodder-cutter machines are used every day by farmers and their families in
India for preparation of fodder for the livestock they own. This paper discus about the procedure of the testing of fodder cutter
machine.
KEY WORDS : Chaff cutter, Performance, Load condition, Power consumption, Fodder
How to cite this Article : Kankal, U.S., Karale, D.S., Khambalkar, V.P. and Thakare, S.H. (2016). Performance evaluation of power chaff
cutter. Engg. & Tech. in India, 7 (1) : 18-25.

INTRODUCTION
Nutrition is the foundation of a livestock production system and proper nutrition is imperative for achieving high
and sustained livestock productivity. The success of animal reproduction and health programme rests on proper nutrition.
The cutting of crop resides into small pieces then feeding to the cattle, increases the consumption and palatability of
feed, hence reducing the wastage.
Animal feeding is very important aspect of livestock husbandry. It is very necessary to have effective utilization
of available feed sources. Chaff is hay cut into small pieces for feeding to livestock (Mohan and Kumar, 2004); it is a
good fodder, and at its best is cleanly and evenly cut, free of dust, of good colour and with a fresh aroma. Chaff can be
purchased from commercial chaff cutting mills (Wikipedia, 2009). Cutting chaff can be done by manually operated
machine and electric operated one, As far as cutting by manually operated machine is concerned. Traditionally for the
operator it is done manually which is physically demanding through it energy and postural requirements and is commonly
regarded as source of drudgery (Kumar et al., 2004); many farmers associated with this task reported back, shoulder
and wrist discomfort. It may also cause clinical or anatomical disorders and may affect worker’s health. By considering
the above constraints in chaff cutting machine it is necessary to introduce the power operated chaff cutter looking to
the shortage of labour, drudgery involved in manually operated chaff cutter operation. By keeping above facts in to the
consideration present investigation has been made an attempt to study the performance evaluation of power operated
chaff cutter.

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
The power operated chaff cuter evaluated for the assessment the performance at Department of Farm Power and

HIND INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

 U.S. KANKAL, D.S. KARALE, V. P. KHAMBALKAR AND S.H. THAKARE

Table A : Details specification of power operated chaff cutter

Sr. No. Particular Specifications
1. Chaff cutter assembly
Power unit:
Type and rating Single Phase, AC induction motor , 1 hp, 1440 rpm
Mass , kg 28.8
Size of mounting base, mm 300x275
2. Main power transmission
Type V belt and Pulley
Size of motor pulley, mm Outer 100 , inner 80 
Size of fly-wheel pulley, mm 780  (thickness-28 mm)
Type and size of belt V belt, B-103 (single belt)
Reduction ratio 1:0.128
3. Cutter head:
Fly Wheel:
Diameter of fly wheel, mm 780
Size of ‘S’ shape for mounting blade, mm 840 (curved length)x 60 (width) and 10(thickness)
No. and size of holes on the ‘S” 3 ; 12.5  (For each blade)
Mass of fly wheel, kg 15.5
4. Blades
Type and Number of blades Two rotating and One fixed blades and 2
Material of blades High Carbon Steel
Method of mounting Each blade is mounted
Chapter on
5 ofasthis
‘S’reportMethod
shaped sittingof
ofmounting
flywheel
by three nut and bolts of size 3/8” , (sunk headed)
5. Shear plate (fixed edge):
Number and Size, mm One and 219x120x10 (L x B x T)
6. Feeding assembly:
7. Main shaft:
Material and dimensions, mm Cast Iron and 410 x 32 
8. Gear box
Type Warm and pinion gear
Number of worms gear and Number of pinion gear 1 and 2
Details of worm:
Type Constant mesh spur gear
No. and depth of teeth, mm 2 and 13 mm
Details of pinion:
Number of teeth on each gear 15
Pitch, mm 18.7
9. Feed rollers:
Number of rollers and types Two and toothed types
Length and diameter of roller, mm 205 and 85  (upper) and 205x84  (Lower)
Effective length of roller, mm 190 (upper): 190 (Lower)
No. of teeth on each roller and their configuration 72(8x9 rows) (upper)& 80 (8x10 rows) (lower)
Type of teeth and pitch, mm Triangular and 300
Size of roller shaft, mm 285x25x25 (upper): 425x25x25(lower)
No. and type of shaft bearing Two, CI bushes (for each shaft)
Space between the axes of upper and lower roller shaft, mm 100
Minimum and maximum, mm 100 and 150
Speed of feeding rollers corresponding to 1400 rpm of the 6
prime-mover, rpm
10. Feeding mechanism
Type of feeding Manual, Chute feed
Size of feeding trough, mm 595 x 325/200 (front/rear)x110.5/50.5(front/rear)
(Length x Width x Depth)
Height from ground level, mm 997 at rear end and 105 at front end
11. Overall dimensions, mm
Length 1200
Width 925
Height 1400
Mass with prime-mover 104.79

Engg. & Tech. in India; 7(1); April, 2016 | 18-25 HIND INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
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 PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF POWER CHAFF CUTTER

Machinery, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola. The details functional components of chaff cutter are
chaff cutter assembly, power transmission, fly wheel, blades, shear plate, feeding assembly, feed rollers, feeding
mechanism and stand. The Various view of chaff cutter are shown in Fig. A. Details specification of power chaff cutter
is given in Table A.

Sr. No. Name of part Sr. No. Name of part

1. Main frame 7. Net frame
2. Head 8. V belt
3. Motor 9. Hexagonal bolt
4. Fly wheel 10. Hexagonal nut
5. Blade 11. Washer
6. Motor pulley

Fig. A : View of power operated chaff cutter

Performance test :
Chaff cutter was tested at no load and on load condition while these test following methodology followed for the
assessment of the performance of the power chaff cutter. For the evaluation of the performance of the chaff cutter
different test codes referred such as IS: 11459-1985, IS: 7897-1975 and IS: 15542: 2005.

Test at no load conditions:

Power consumption:
The chaff cutter was fixing on firmly on level and preferably hard surface. Then set the clearance between
rotating and fixed blade and made other adjustments for proper working of the chaff cutter. After proper functioning
of the chaff cutter was attach to an electric motor as shown in the circuit diagram given in Fig. A. The attachment of
cutter head with motor done by connecting the motor with the help of flat or V-belt and pulleys with the main axle of
the cutter head. The allowances for V-belt drive losses was taken as 8 per cent as per the IS: 7897 (1975).

Fig. A : Circuit diagram

Engg. & Tech. in India; 7(1); April, 2016 | 18-25 HIND INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
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 U.S. KANKAL, D.S. KARALE, V. P. KHAMBALKAR AND S.H. THAKARE

V = Voltmeter, 0-300 V, ac moving iron type

E = Energymeter, 3 ampere, single phase, 1600 rev/kWh
W = Wattmeter, 0-230 V, Single phase, dynamometer type
CON= 1.5 kW Speed Controller
M = dc motor shunt wound, 1.5 kW, 220 V
A = Ammeter, 0-10 A
After making of proper connection the motor coupled with chaff cutter and run for about 30 minutes. Then the
following parameter was recorded.
– Resistance of the winding of the motor ( R ohms ),
– Initial reading of the energy meter (El watt-hour ),
– Final reading of the energy meter ( E2 watt-hour ), and
– Time of run ( T1 minutes ).
Then the total power at no load condition (P1) was calculated by the following formula.
60 (E 2 - E 1 )
P  kW
1000 T1

E2= final reading of the energymeter, watthour

E1= initial reading of the energymeter, watthour
T1= time of run, min

Visual observations:
During and after completing power consumption test the observations were recorded and as given in Table 2.

Test at load condition :

Short run tests:
The Chaff cutter was installed as given above procedure. The sufficient quantity of fodder was taken to be cut
from the same variety of crop free from roots. The length of the fodder was selected as far as possible be of the same
size. The moisture content of the fodder should be, as far as possible to be in the range of 75 to 85 per cent. The fodder
was piled near the feeding tray in bundle formation. The mass of the bundles for continuous feeding was calculated by
following formula
W3 = 4 x D
where,
W3 = mass of the bundle in g, and
D = effective width of the feed roller in mm
Then the chaff cuter operated the cutter head at the speed specified and feed the fodder manually ensure that the
feeding is done continuously and covers full width and height of the throat. The feeding was done from root side of the
fodder. While feeding, rigid plastic pipe of diameter approximately equal to the diameter of the fodder stalk and 2
meters in length was fed along with the fodder. The duration of the operation was taken for more than 1 hour. The
starting and stopping time was recorded carefully. The starting time was noted when the fodder comes in contact with
feed rolls.
Parameters taken in consideration of the chaff cutter performance and calculated by the following formulae.

Quality of cut:
Better quality of cut means least deviation of measured length of cut from the theoretical length of cut. But
practically there would be some deviation because of feed interference. For getting proper measured length 25 cut
pieces selected of plastic pipes and then measure the length of each piece and calculate the quality of work by the
following formulae:

Engg. & Tech. in India; 7(1); April, 2016 | 18-25 HIND INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
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 PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF POWER CHAFF CUTTER

Q = (1-)
where,
Q = quality of work and
= standared deviation of length of cut
n
 (x t  x)
2
i 1
σ 
n 1

where,
n = number of pieces plastic pipes taken,
xt = measured length of cut pieces in mm
x = theoretical length of cut in mm and
i = serial number of cut pieces, (1,2,3…………n)
πD i N 1
x 
NR
Where,
Di = diameter of feed rolls in mm
N1 = rev/min of feed rolls
N = rev/min of flywheel or cutter head, and
R = mumber of blads used

Quantity of cut :
For calculating the quantity of fodder cut per hour of operation by using of the following formula:
60A
W4 
T
where,
W4 = quantity of cut in kg/h,
A = measured the quantity of cut in kg in T min
T = duration of operation in min

Power requirement:
The power requirement of the chaff cutter was calculated by the following formulae giving due allowances to the
type of drive
60 (E 4 - E 3 )
P2 
1000T
where,
P2 = total power consumed at load in kW
E4 = final reading of the energymeter in watthour
E3 = initial reading of the energymeter in watthour
T= duration of operations in min

P3 = P2-P1
where,
P3 = power consumed by chaff cutter in kW
P2 = total power consumed at load in kW
P1= total power consumed at no load in kW

Engg. & Tech. in India; 7(1); April, 2016 | 18-25 HIND INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
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 U.S. KANKAL, D.S. KARALE, V. P. KHAMBALKAR AND S.H. THAKARE

Quantity per unit energy consumed :

To calculated the quantity of cut in per kilowatt hour energy consumed ( WS ) the following formula was used.
W4
W5 
P2

Corrected quantity of cut:

To avoid the variation of moisture content of fodder and the length of cut, the quantity of cut shall be corrected at
0 per cent moisture and 20 mm length of cut by the following formula:
 W (100 - M)  20
W6   4 
 100  L
where,
W6 = corrected quantity of cut in kg/h,
W4 = quantity of cut in kg/h,
M = observed moisture per cent and
L = measured length of cut in mm

W6
W7 
P3
where,
W7 = corrected quantity of cut in kg/kWh

Performance index:
For comparison of performance of the chaff cutter, calculate the performance index (PI) by the following formula:
(W4 x Q)
PI 
P3
where,
W4 = quantity of cut in kg/h,
Q = quantity of work,
P3 = power consumed by chaff cutter in kW

EXPERIMENTAL FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

The power operated chaff cutter was evaluated for their measurement performance at Deptt. of Farm Power and
Machinery, Dr. PDKV, Akola. The test trials has been carried out at Dairy and Animal Husbandry Department, Dr.
PDKV, Akola.

Performance test :
There were four trials were conducted out of which two trials on dry sorghum and two on ginni grass. The details
physical parameter of crop and ginni grass are shown in Table 2

Test at no load:
The chaff cutter was operated for 1.0 hour at No Load and recorded the power consumption and visual observations.

Power consumption:
Chaff cutter was fix firmly on level and hard surface and essential adjustment was made. Chaff cutter was
attached to an electric motor as per test code IS: 7897-1975. The No Load power consumption of chaff cutter was
recorded as 0.92 kWh.

Engg. & Tech. in India; 7(1); April, 2016 | 18-25 HIND INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
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 PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF POWER CHAFF CUTTER

Visual observations:
During the No Load test, the observations against the following points were made in Table 1.

Table 1 : No load test

Sr. No. Parameters Observations
1. Presence of any marked oscillation during operation Not found
2. Presence of knocking or rattling sound Not found
3. Frequent slippage of belts Not found
4. Smooth running of shaft/shafts in their respective bearings Not found
5. Any marked unusual wear or slackness in any component Not found
6. Any marked rise in bearing temperature Not found
7. Stability of Chaff Cutter Satisfactory
8. Other observations Not noticed

Short run test:

The details of fodder crop parameters and observations made during the test are given in Table 2.

Table 2 : Performance test results of power operated chaff cutter

Sr. Test trials
Parameters
No. I II I II
1. Name of the crop Dry Sorgum Ginni
2. Moisture content of fodder ,% 19.15 19.28 34.41 34.81
3. Avg. length of stalk, cm 252.8 247 256.5 268.75
4. Avg. dia. of stalks, mm 11.4 9.8 6.44 8.33
5. Duration of test, h 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
6. Feed rate, kg/h 179.9 181.03 310.38 308.45
7. Quantity of cut, kg/h 177.00 177.51 304.47 302.32
8. Quality of cut 0.832 0.827 0.821 0.820
9. Range of length fodder pieces, mm 8.3-20.2 7.8 -19.8 5.54-18.8 5.7-19.1
10. Avg. length of fodder pieces, mm 10.8 12 9.90 11.88
11. Variation in length of plastic cut pieces, % 2.81 3.02 2.54 2.71
12. Power consumed by chaff cutter ,kW 1.15 1.19 1.03 1.08
13. Qty. of cut per unit energy consumed, kg/kWh 153.91 149.16 295.60 279.92
14. Corrected qty. of cut, kg/h 155.95 143.29 237.36 195.23
15. Corrected qty. of cut, kg/kWh 135.60 120.04 230.45 180.77
16. Performance index 128.85 122.3 242.68 229.53

Table 3 : Wear of chaff cutter blade on mass basis

Sr. No. Notation Initial wt.(g) Final wt. after 25.0 h of test (g) % wear Wear rate (%)
1 Blade 997 986.5 1.053 0.042

Quantity of cut:
The average feed rate was observed as 180.46 kg/hr for dry Sorgum crop and 276.65 for ginni crop respectively.
Average quantity of cut was observed 177.25 kg/hr for dry Sorgum and 268.30 for ginni crop. The average quantity
of cut per unit energy consumed was found to be 151.53 kg/kWh for dry Sorgum crop and for 287.76 kg/kWh,
respectively.

Quality of cut:
The quality of cut was determined from the deviation of measured length of cut from length of cut. The quality of

Engg. & Tech. in India; 7(1); April, 2016 | 18-25 HIND INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
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 U.S. KANKAL, D.S. KARALE, V. P. KHAMBALKAR AND S.H. THAKARE

cut was 0.83 for harvested dry sorgum crop and 0.84 for ginni crop.

Power requirement:
The power consumed by chaff cutter was measured at a time of load test and found to be 1.17kWh for dry
Sorghum crop and 1.05 kWh for ginni crop.

Long run test:

The power chaff cutter was operated for total duration of 25 hr during the operation of chaff cutter, no breakdown
in the cutter head, feeding mechanism, transmission system and other part of chaff cutter was noticed.

Labour requirement:
Two labour are required for operation of chaff cutter one for feeding a fodder crop and one for handling cut
materials

Wear of chaff cutter blade :

Wear analysis carried out of chaff cutter blade on mass basis after 25 h operation of chaff cutter. The hourly rate
of wear of chaff cutter blade was found 0.042 per cent

Conclusion :
Form the trials of power operated chaff cutter the following conclusions could be drawn
– The feed rate was found higher in ginni crop as compared to dry Sorghum due higher moisture content.
– The quantity of cut is more in ginni crop than dry sorghum.
– The power consumption was found minimum ginni crop than dry sorghum.
– Qty. of cut per unit energy consumed less in dry sorghum as compared with ginni fodder crop.
– The performance index was also found more in ginni crop than dry sorghum crop.
– Over all from the study it can concluded that the performance of chaff cutter is better in high moisture holding
crop.

REFERENCES
IS: 11459-1985 (Reaffirmed in 2000)-Specification for Power Operated Chaff Cutter;
IS: 1511-1979(Reaffirmed in 2000)-Specification for blades for Manually Operated Chaff Cutter
IS: 7897-1975(Reaffirmed in 2001)-Test Code for Chaff Cutter;
IS: 15542: 2005 - Power Operated Chaff Cutter -Safety Requirements.
Kumar, P., Nag, A. and Drudgery, P. (2004). Accidents and Injuries in Indian Agriculture. Industrial Health, 42 (3) : 149–
162.
Mohan, D. and Kumar, A. (2004). Development of safer fodder-cutter machines: a case study from north India. Safety Sci.
42(1):43-55.

MEMBERS OF RESEARCH FORUM

AUTHOR FOR CORRESPONDENCE : CO-OPTED AUTHORS :
U.S. Kankal D.S. Karale, V.P. Khambalkar and S.H. Thakare, Department of
Department of Farm Power and Machinery, Dr. Farm Power and Machinery, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi
Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, AKOLA Vidyapeeth, AKOLA (M.S.) INDIA
(M.S.) INDIA
Email: uskankal@gmail.com

Engg. & Tech. in India; 7(1); April, 2016 | 18-25 HIND INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
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