Book of Extended summaries ISDA

International Conference on Reimagining Rainfed Agro-ecosystems: Challenges &
Opportunities during 22-24, December 2022 at ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad
T5-06R-1419
Development and Evaluation of DC Motor Powered Brush Cutter
Ashish S. Dhimate, I. Srinivas, B. S. Reddy, R. V. Adake, G. Pratibha,
Mallikarjuna Reddy and S. Vijaya Kumar
ICAR-Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad, Telangana-500059, India
Nowadays, engine operated brush cutters are well popular among the farmer for various
operation like grass cutting, paddy harvesting etc. The brush cutter is mostly run with fossil
fuel like petrol. However, depletion of fossil fuel and day by day increase in their price, and
pollution are the main challenges in use of fossil fuel. To overcome the expensive using cost
and the carbon dioxide released problems, there have been concerned by many countries in the
recent years (Chieh-Tsung Chi, 2012). Moreover, Government of India (GOI) promoting the
use of renewable resources (Anonymous 2018) to meet the ever-rising energy demand in India.
Therefore, the use of power storage technology (battery) for harnessing energy is gaining
popularity for use in agricultural machinery (Sahoo and Rehman 2020). The recent scenario
has increases the scope of battery technology for carrying out some of agricultural activity like
weeding, harvesting etc. Further, it was observed that most of battery-operated machinery has
less noise and vibration compared to engine-based machinery. Sahoo and Raheman 2020,
developed vertical conveyor reaper. From the study, it was observed that developed e-reaper
does not produce any exhaust emission, moreover the noise and vibration were 4.34% and
49.89%, lesser, respectively. The cost of operation with the developed e-reaper was 63% lesser
than the traditional method of harvesting. It also reviewed that estimation of charging cost of
battery per using time is generally lower than that needed by the internal combustion engine
type. Hence, it was decided to develop a DC motor powered brush cutter for Indian farmers
with small size land holdings to reduce the cost of cultivation.
Methodology
Description of developed Electric brush cutter
Newly developed brush cutter consist battery unit, permanent magnet DC motor, motor speed
controller, Coupler, Hallow Pipe and spline shaft, gear head, cutting blade, crop gathering unit,
etc. Total weight of prototype is 11.5 kg including battery. Operation of developed prototype
is similar to engine operated brush cutter. The battery is fixed in shoulder mounted sack and its
whole weight carried by both shoulders equally.
Performance evaluation of e‐brush cutter
The performance of the developed DC motor powered brush cutter was evaluated in laboratory
and field at ICAR-Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad. It was tested
on finger millet crop stem after harvesting ear-head. The remaining stem of the finger millet is
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