Engineering students develop new implements for farmers

‘These models minimise use of human labour in farm sector’

A student demonstrating his device at the Jawaharlal Nehru National College of Engineeringin Shivamogga.

Devices that farmers can use in their day-to-day agricultural operations have been developed by the students of final year B.E at the Jawaharlal Nehru National College of Engineering here, as part of their project work.

D.S. Ramakrishna, chairman of the Department of Mechanical Engineering in the college, told The Hindu that in wake of migration of farm workers from rural areas towards urban areas for livelihood, the agricultural sector was facing acute shortage of workers. This problem could be resolved with mechanisation of farm operations. Students were encouraged to develop models that could minimise the reliance on labour in agricultural operations, he said.

A ‘rotary type coconut de-husking machine’ has been developed by G.N. Chiranjeevi, H.S. Chethan, Mohammed Imad and B.R. Abhilash, students of the college. The machine, mounted on a stand, is operated by a 1 HP motor. When a coconut is placed between the rollers that are fitted with metallic teeth, the husk gets removed. Two coconuts can be de-husked simultaneously with this machine.

With the objective of helping farmers undertake harvesting operations at minimal cost, J. Darshan, Ganesh Jambige, Karthik Basavanthkar and Manoj Bapat have developed a ‘pedal crank wheat and paddy threshing machine.’

This machine has been developed on the basis of pedal-cranking mechanism. The drum in the machine is propelled by a chain sprocket and spur gears. The pins on the circumference of the drum will pull the paddy or wheat from the plant. The separated grain is rubbed and rolled against the rotating drum and then thrashed without, causing any damage to the grain. The ‘root crop washing machine’ has been developed by H. Ajay, K.S. Arun, K.S. Ashik and Karthik Bhat. At present, the crops such as potato, ginger are washed manually that require huge quantity of water. The new machine washes the yield by using rotating belt mechanism. A 0.5 HP motor is fitted to the machine for the movement of belts. The machine for drying the agriculture produces by using condenser heat of refrigerator, mini-rotary tillers are some of the models that have been developed by the students. The models were on display on the college premises on Friday and Saturday.

‘At present, agricultural sector is facing severe shortage of farm workers’

‘Crop washing machine helps save water and time in cleaning potato, ginger etc.,’