AM 311

Agricultural Machinery
Management
Topic: Grain Harvesting
Introduction
The purpose of grain harvesting is to recover grains
from the field and separate them from the rest of
the crop material in a timely manner with minimum
grain loss while maintaining highest grain quality.
The methods and equipment used for harvesting
depend upon the type of grain crop, planting
method, and climate.
The major grain crops are rice , Maize, wheat, corn,
soybeans, barley, sorghum, and dry beans.
Methods
The entire harvesting operation may be divided into
cutting, threshing, separation, and cleaning functions.
Threshing is breaking grain free from other plant
material by applying mechanical force that creates a
combination of impact, shear, and/or compression.
It is important to avoid damaging grain during
threshing. This is a challenging task under certain crop
conditions.
For example, at high moisture content it is harder to
break grain away from the crop material but easier to
damage grain.
Methods
The operation of separation refers to separating
threshed grains from bulk plant material such as
straw.
The cleaning operation uses air to separate fine
crop material such as chaff, broken straw pieces,
dirt, or weed seeds from grain.
Methods
There are two methods of grain harvesting
a. Direct harvesting
b. Cutting and windrowing
Direct harvesting
In the direct harvesting method, all functions, from
cutting to cleaning, are performed by one machine called
the combine.
There are two main kinds of combines, conventional types
and rotary types.
Either of these types may be self-propelled or pulled by a
tractor and powered by the PTO drive.
Methods
During combine operation the uncut standing crop is pushed
by the reel against the cutterbar and onto the platform.
The cut crop is conveyed towards the center of the platform
from either side by the platform auger and conveyed to the
threshing cylinder by the feeder conveyer.
The crop is threshed by the threshing cylinder.
About 80% of the grain, along with some chaff and small
pieces of straw, is separated through the grate.
The bulk of the straw, chaff, and the remaining grains pass
through the concave-cylinder gap where the beater causes it
to slow down.
Methods
Combines that do not use the oscillating action of a
straw walker use rotary action to accomplish
threshing and separation.
Methods
Cutting and windrowing
Some crops that do not lend themselves to direct
harvesting are better harvested by cutting and
windrowing before threshing, separating, and
cleaning.
When the crop does not ripen evenly or does not
mature fully, cutting and windrowing allows for the
crop to cure in the field before threshing.
Some crops, such as edible beans, are cut below-
ground and windrowed to avoid cutting bean pods.
Methods
Generally, cutting is accomplished by a cutterbar and windrowing
is done by a draper.
A draper is a flat horizontal belt that runs perpendicular to the line
of travel.
As the crop is cut by the cutterbar, it falls onto the draper and is
carried to the side and dropped in a windrow.
The crop material in a swath width is placed in a narrow windrow
for the purpose of drying.
The reel and cutterbar header is replaced by a pickup attachment
in the combine.
The windrow is gently picked up by the pickup header and taken
into the combine where the subsequent harvesting operations are
completed.
Harvesting Equipment
Grain harvesting can be done
i. Manually Operated tools (Sickle, knife)
ii. Animal drawn machine (not common)
iii. Mechanically operated machine(Maize harvester, cotton
harvester, combine harvester and reaper)
Sickle is a simple harvesting tool. It is used for harvesting
crops and cutting other vegetation. It is essentially consists of
metallic blade and a wooden handle.
Sickles are classified in to two classes (i) plain and (ii)
serrated. Blade is the main metallic part of sickle. It is
desirable to make the blade made of carbon steel. The blade
is made in curved shape.
Harvesting Equipment

A Sickle
Harvesting Equipment
Harvesting Equipment
Harvesting Equipment
Harvesting Equipment
Harvesting Equipment
Harvesting Equipment
Harvesting Equipment
Harvesting Equipment
Harvesting Equipment
Harvesting Equipment
Harvesting Equipment
Vertical conveyer reaper (Self operated/Tractor
mounted)
It is mostly used for harvesting paddy and wheat.
The reaper is front mounted at the tractor, which
can be lowered and raised by the hydraulic control.
It is powered by the PTO of the tractor.
Crop is guided by the star wheel to the cutter bar
and held in vertical position by the springs. The
crop is conveyed to the side by the conveyer belt.
Its capacity may be 0.4-0.6 ha/h.
Harvesting Equipment
Vertical conveyer reaper (Power tiller operated):
It can be used for harvesting wheat and paddy. The reaper is
front mounted on the power tiller. Power is transmitted
from the engine fly wheel to the reaper either through V
belt or by providing gear box and propeller shafts.
Crop is guided by the star wheels to the cutter bar and held
in vertical position by the springs. The crop is conveyed to
the side by the conveyor belt. Cutter bar length may be 100-
160 cm. The capacity may be 0.25-0.35 ha/h.
Reaper binder: It cuts and binds the crop simultaneously. It
cuts the crop at the height of about 10 cm from the ground
level. The harvesting capacity is 0.25-0.35 ha/h
Threshers
Threshing is process of detaching grains from ear heads or
from the plants.
Threshing can be achieved by three methods namely
rubbing, impact and stripping.
Threshing loosens the grains and separates from the stalk.
Principle
a. Bases on the principle that when
Impact is given on crops, the grains are separated
The crop mass passes through a gap between drum and
concave, wearing or rubbing action takes place-separates
grain from panicle.
Threshers
b. Rupture of the bond between grains and ears is due to
Impact of beaters or spikes over grains
Wearing or rubbing action

c. Strength of the bond between grain and panicles

depends upon
Type of crop
Variety of crop
Moisture content of grain
Ripening phase of grain
Threshers
Efficiency and quality of threshing depends upon
Drum speed
No. of beaters
Gap between drum and concave
Quality & condition of plant mass fed to thresher
Direction of feeding
Rate of feeding
Threshers
Types of threshers
Power (mechanized) thresher
Manual thresher
Animal drawn thresher

Types of Power Threshers

1. According to crops being threshed
Single Crop
Multi-crop
Threshers
2. According to functional components
Drummy
Regular (Through-put)
Axial flow
3. According to types of threshing cylinder
Syndicator
Hammer Mill or Beater type
Spike tooth type
Rasp bar type
Threshers

Main Components of Thresher

Drive pulley Frame
Fan/blower Upper sieve
Feeding chute Lower sieve
Spikes Transport wheel
Cylinder Suspension lever
Concave Can pulley
Flywheel Shutter plate
Threshers
Functional components of threshing unit:
A power thresher essentially consists of
Feeding unit,
Threshing unit,
Cleaning unit,
Power transmission unit,
Main frame and
Transport unit
Threshers
The operation of conveying the cut crop into threshing
unit is known as feeding.
Normally, one of the two types of feeding units throw-in-
type or hold-on-type is used in power threshers.
In throw-in-type feeding unit, the cut crop is pushed into
threshing cylinder.
In hold-on-type the heads is only pushed into the cylinder
and straw is manually or mechanically held.
Throw-in-type feeding device is quite common in the
threshers, which may be a feeding hopper or feeding
chute.
Threshers
a. Feeding unit
In this type of feeding device, there is a hopper,
placed on the top of the threshing cylinder.
Generally hopper type of feeding units have a
rotating star wheel mechanism between the
hopper and threshing drum to facilitate the uniform
feeding of crop to the drum.
Threshers
b. Threshing Unit
The threshing is accomplished by the impact of the rotating pegs
mounted on the cylinder, over to the ear heads, which force out the
grain from the sheath holding it.
Threshing unit is mainly consists of a cylinder and concave.
There are different types of threshing cylinders (drum)
1. Spike tooth/peg type cylinder
2. Rasp bar type cylinder
3. Angled bar type cylinder
4. Wire loop type cylinder
5. Cutter blade or syndicator type cylinder
6. Hammer mill type cylinder
Threshers
1. Spike tooth type cylinder
In this type of threshing drum, there is a hollow cylinder,
made out of MS flat.
Over to its entire periphery, a number of spikes/pegs of
square /round bars or flat iron pieces are welded or
bolted.
Now days, in most of threshers, round peg with
adjustable length are used. These spikes are staggered
on the periphery of the drum for uniform threshing.
The crop is fed along with the direction of motion of the
rotating drum.
Threshers
2. Rasp bar type cylinder
In this type of cylinder, there are slotted plates,
which are fitted over to the cylinder rings, in such a
way that the direction of slot of one plate is
opposite to another plate.
This type of cylinder is commonly used in
threshers. It can be used for a wide variety of crops
(wheat, paddy, maize, soybean etc).
Threshers
3. Wire loop type cylinder
In this type of threshing drum, there is hallow
cylinder, over which a number of wooden or MS
plates are fitted.
On these plates, number of wire loops is fixed for
threshing purposes. This type of cylinder is
common in the manually operated paddy threshers.
Holding the bundle against the loops of revolving
cylinder does threshing of paddy crop.
Threshers
4. Chaff cutter/Syndicator type cylinder
This is essentially an adoption of chaff cutter for threshing.
The crop is fed as is done in case of chaff cutters.
After passing through a set of rollers, crop is cut into pieces.
Varying the set of gears can vary the size. Three to four
serrated blades are fastened on the radial arm of the
flywheel.
Threshing is done mainly due to cutting helped by rubbing
and impact. The main advantage of syndicator thresher is
that it can handle crop with higher moisture content.
However, chopping knives need to be sharpened every 3-5
hours of operation.
Threshers
5. Hammer mill type cylinder
It uses beaters to do the required job of threshing. The
shape of this type of cylinder is different from the
above-discussed cylinder.
The beaters are made of flat iron pieces and are fixed
radically on the rotor shaft. Generally feeding chutes
are used with hammer mill type threshing cylinder.
The cut crop is fed perpendicular to the direction of
motion of rotating beaters. This type of thresher
requires more power as compared to spike tooth type
of thresher.
Threshers
Concave
Cylinder and concave together makes the threshing unit. It
separates the grain from the crop and removes grain from
the straw.
Concave is provided in the thresher to hold the fed crop
inside the threshing chamber and allows only grain and
small amount of chaff to pass through it.
The threshing takes place only in this space. It is a curved
unit, made of iron steel or iron bar, fitted near the threshing
cylinder.
The clearance between cylinder and concave is adjustable,
depending upon the size and type of grain.
Threshers
The concave clearance for wheat is 5 to 13 mm and
for paddy is 5 to 10 mm.
As the concave clearance is reduced, the threshing
efficiency increases but losses increase and vice
versa.
The concave clearance at the inlet is less as
compared to outlet. There are different types of
concave, which are used in thresher.
Threshers
Screen type concave: It is made of MS rod. It is
semicircular in shape and sometimes made with wire
also. The screen allows the material after threshing
to pass through its perforation.
Perforated concave: In this, perforations are made in
a mild steel sheet. The concave is closed from both
the ends by iron sheet. The size of perforation is
made as per the size of grain of a crop.
Threshers
c. Cleaning unit
This unit is provided to separate the grain from
chaff. It further uses sub units, like aspirators or
blowers, sieves and sieve shaking mechanisms to
separate out grains from chaff.
The thresher that is provided with aspirator unit is
usually called aspirator type thresher.
Those threshers fitted with blower which blows air
in horizontal direction is called drummy threshers.
Threshers
d. Power transmission unit
Threshers are usually powered with tractors and sometimes with
electric motors or diesel engine.
After installing the thresher into the threshing floor in the field,
tractor PTO shaft is coupled with a flat pulley.
Blower fan is provided into the main shaft of the thresher, which
rotates and does the required job. The screens are oscillated
with the help of a v-belt and a crank wheel, powered with main
shaft of thresher.
A heavy flywheel is also provided on the main axle of the
thresher. It is very important part of any thresher. It is provided
to store the energy to supply continuously and equally to the
entire threshing cylinder.
Threshers
e. Main frame
A very strong frame is provided in the thresher on
which all the functional parts are attached.
The frame is made usually of heavy angle iron
sections. It should be strong enough to sustain
vibrations of machine, during its operation in the
field.
Threshers
Thresher adjustments
Cylinder and concave clearance
Cylinder speed
Fan adjustment
Combine harvesting
A modern grain combine performs many functional
processes.
Gathering and
Cutting (or in case of windrows, picking up),
Threshing,
Separation, and
Cleaning.
Functional Components of Combine Harvesters
i. The header (cutting platform) divides, gathers and cuts the
crop with a reel and cutterbar then augers the crop into the
feeder house for presentation to the threshing unit.
ii. The threshing unit consisting of threshing drum and concave
(or other systems described later), which detach the grain
from the ears.
iii. The separator unit or straw walker separates the remaining
grain from the straw.
iv. The cleaning unit does the final separation of grain from the
chaff and broken straw pieces delivered by the concave and
straw walker. The clean grain is conveyed into the grain tank.
Combine harvesting

Process diagram of a combine.

Combine harvesting
Functional Processes
1. Gathering, cutting, pickup, and feeding are done by either
Grain header or Corn header.
Grain header
Mechanisms to gather and cut the crop are located in the
header, which is also called the cutting platform.
Slat-type and pickup reels, are commonly used for gathering
most small grain crops.
Pickup reels are used for lodged crops (crops that have fallen
over due to heavy rains, winds, etc.), because they have
fingers that reach into the lodged crops and help pick them up
for cutting.
Combine harvesting
For optimum combine operation the crop should be cut
just below the grain heads. If the crop height is uneven
or if the crop is lodged it may not be cut in some places,
which will contribute to losses.
Optimum reel position is determined by the crop height,
amount of straw cut, and the condition of the straw.
Proper reel speed is important to minimizing shattering
and gathering losses. A reel turning too fast will result in
excessive shatter loss, whereas too slow a speed will
result in the cut grain head falling off the platform, a
cutterbar loss.
Combine harvesting
It is recommended that the peripheral speed of the
reel should be about 25% to 50% faster than the
forward speed of the combine, or in other words,
that the reel index be between 1.25 to 1.5.

Where
Vr = peripheral speed of the reel
Vc = forward speed of combine
Combine harvesting
Corn header
The gathering and cutting of seed corn is accomplished by a
corn header. A corn header can harvest three to twelve
rows at a time. The row spacing is designed to match the
planter row spacing.
During the operation, the gatherer points are positioned
between the corn rows. The corn head on a combine
primarily performs gathering, snapping, and trash removal.
The gathering units are fitted with gathering chains
equipped with finger links that assist in moving stalks into
and through the snapping zone and prevent loose ears from
sliding forward to be lost.
Combine harvesting
When stalks are upright, the chain speed is
adjusted to be approximately equal to the forward
speed of travel.
Combine harvesting
2. Threshing
Mechanisms
Threshing is accomplished by a rotating cylinder and a
concave grate in both conventional and rotary combines.
As the cylinder rotates, crop is forced through the gap
between the concave and the cylinder and is subjected
to impact and rubbing action that cause grains to be
detached.
In a rotary combine the crop flow is parallel to the axis of
rotor, whereas in a conventional combine the crop flow
is transverse to the axis of rotation.
Combine harvesting
In conventional combines, there are three primary
types of threshing cylinders and associated
concaves:-
i. The rasp-bar cylinder and concave,
ii. The angle-bar cylinder and concave, and
iii. The spike-tooth cylinder and concave.
Combine harvesting
Threshing performance
The performance of threshing mechanisms is measured by
threshing efficiency, separation efficiency, the amount of
grain damage and the amount of straw breakup.
Threshing performance parameters are affected by the
following factors:
i. Design factors: cylinder diameter, concave length, number
of rasp bars
ii. Operating parameters: cylinder speed, cylinder concave
gap, material feed rate
iii. Crop condition: crop moisture content, crop maturity, crop
type.
Combine harvesting
i. Threshing efficiency
It is the percentage of the threshed grains calculated
on the basis of the total grains entering the threshing
mechanism. It increases asymptotically with concave
length up to a certain point.
Increasing the diameter of the conventional threshing
cylinder increases threshing losses at a rate of about
0.9% for each 7.5 cm increase in the diameter.
Threshing losses increase with material feed rate.
Combine harvesting
ii. The separation efficiency
It is defined as the percent of grains separated through the
concave grate of a conventional combine, or at the threshing
part of a rotary combine, to the total grain in the crop entering
the threshing mechanism.
Cylinder separation efficiency varies from 60% to 90%.
Increasing the concave length increases the separation
efficiency but at a diminishing rate. Grain separation increases
with cylinder speed.
While increasing the cylinder diameter or the cylinder-concave
clearance tends to reduce the separation efficiency. Increasing
the feedrate has a negative effect on the separation efficiency.
Combine harvesting
iii. Grain damage
Refers to mechanical damage to grain during the process of threshing.
It includes broken kernels, kernels with skin damage, and kernels with
internal damage.
Mechanical damage to grain results in poor germination, poor
storability, and poor processing characteristics.
There are many methods of measuring grain damage, including visual
inspection of a sample of grain, sieving through a standard sieve, and
germination testing.
Cylinder speed has the most profound effect on grain damage during
threshing, as increasing cylinder speed increases damage
exponentially. Increasing concave length tends to increase grain
damage slightly. Increasing cylinder diameter and cylinder concave
gap reduces grain damage.
Combine harvesting
3. Separation
Mechanisms
Grain separation in combines refers to the
separation of grains from straw after threshing. A
large percentage (70% to 90%) of grains are
separated during the threshing process.
Two types of grain separators are commonly used
in combines:
i. Conventional combines use straw walkers and
ii. Rotary combines use rotary separators.
Combine harvesting
i. Straw walkers
Consist of several long channel sections mounted on
a crankshaft.
As the shaft turns the channel sections follow an
elliptical or circular path that causes the straw to
bounce on top of the channels and move toward the
rear of the combine due to the design of the saw-
tooth shape of the top of the channel sections.
The oscillating action causes the grains and some
chaff to be sifted down and be separated from the
straw.
Combine harvesting
ii. Rotary separators
The main force causing the grain to move through a
mat of straw is the centrifugal force caused by
rotation of the straw mat by the rotor, as compared
to the gravity force in the straw walkers.
The rotor, which rotates inside of a stationary
cylindrical screen, generates a centrifugal force field
which is several times that of gravity.
The paddles mounted on the rotor surface cause the
crop to take a helical path in the annular space
defined by the rotor and the screen.
Combine harvesting
Separation performance
The performance of the separator is measured in
two ways
a. Walker efficiency, measured in percent grain loss, and
b. Walker capacity, measured in tons/h of MOG feed rate
corresponding to a given grain loss (usually 1% to 2%).
The walker efficiency is calculated by dividing the
amount of grains separated by the amount of grains
entering the separator and expressed as
percentage.
Combine harvesting
The amount of grain still in the straw as it leaves the
combine is considered the separator loss.
The separation performance parameters for
conventional combines are affected by the following
factors:
i. Design factors: walker length, crank throw and speed
ii. Operating parameters: material feed rate, walker
slope
iii. Crop properties: grain-to-MOG ratio, crop physical
and mechanical properties.
Combine harvesting
4. Cleaning
Refers to the final separation of grain from other crop
material, which consists mainly of chaff and broken
straw pieces.
The grain separated at the threshing cylinder and the
separation unit is combined on an oscillating conveyor or
a set of augers that feed the mixture of grain and chaff
to the cleaner, often referred to as the cleaning shoe.
Mechanisms
The separation is accomplished due to aerodynamic and
mechanical actions.
Combine harvesting
The cleaning shoe design consists of two or three oscillating
adjustable-opening sieves and a paddle-type fan to blow air
through the sieve openings.
The crop is dropped on the top sieve (chaffer sieve) near the
front of the shoe. The chaff gets blown off by the air and the
grain falls through the openings onto the lower sieve (cleaning
sieve).
The process is repeated once more as the clean grain passes
through to the clean grain auger and conveyed to the grain
tank.
The separation occurs due to difference in the terminal
velocities of grain and chaff material. For example, the terminal
velocity of wheat, oat, and barley.
Combine harvesting

Cleaning mechanism
Combine harvesting
Combine losses
Combine losses are divided into:-
(1) Header losses,
(2) Threshing losses,
(3) Separation losses, and
(4) Cleaning losses.
Combine harvesting
Header losses
Include lodging, shatter, and cutterbar loss.
Lodged crop not cut by the cutterbar is considered
lodging loss.
Shatter loss is the grain that falls to the ground
as the grain head is shattered due to the impact by the
reel.
Cutterbar loss is the cut grain heads that fail to land on
the platform. The header losses may be expressed as
kg/ha or as percentage of the crop yield.
Combine harvesting
Threshing or cylinder losses
Are those un-threshed grain heads that escape the combine
at the rear with straw and are expressed as the percentage of
total grain entering the combine.
Separation losses
Also called walker losses in conventional combines, are lost
grain with straw expressed as the percentage of total grain
entering the combine.
Cleaning losses
Also called shoe losses, are the grain lost with chaff expressed
as the percentage of the total grain entering the combine.
Combine harvesting
Discharge losses/total losses
Are the sum of threshing, separation, and cleaning losses.
These losses are affected by the material-other-than-
grain (MOG) flow rate through the machine.
The plot of these losses at different MOG feed rates is
referred to as the machine performance curve.
The capacity of a functional component is the MOG feed
rate at a certain loss level.
This loss level is 1% to 2% for the separator capacity and
0.5% to 1% for the cleaner capacity.
Combine harvesting

Typical combine performance curves

Combine harvesting
Combine adjustment: The operator can deal with different
crop properties and harvest conditions by different combine
adjustments. These are:-
i. Forward speed Concave
ii. Reel position vi. Sieve openings
iii. Reel speed vii. Chaffer extension and
iv. Cutterbar height sieve
v. Cylinder peripheral viii. Fan speed; and
speed and front/rear position of wind
clearance of the deflectors.