Introduction: Sugarcane is an important and strategic product in many countries, including Iran. While the introduction of mechanization, e.g., Sugarcane harvesting machines, has significantly enhanced the production process, operators of these machines still face many ergonomic and safety challenges.  Material and Methods: The present study investigated the ergonomic status of Sugarcane harvester operators by examining some of their physiological and physical evaluations. Physiological evaluations included heart rate, oral temperature, and energy consumption of the operators, perceptual strain index, and physiological strain index. Physical evaluation included estimating the amount of pain and discomfort in body segments. The correlation between pain and discomfort of body parts with some demographic and physiological indices of users was investigated using IBM SPSS 24 software. Results: Sugarcane harvester operators’ heart rate, energy consumption, and physiological strain index were 79.05 beats/min, 18.81 kJ/min, and 0.83, respectively. The average of three indices of thermal sensation, perceived exertion of activity, and perceptual strain index were estimated as 4.40, 9.21, and 8.86, respectively. Conclusion: Pain and discomfort in the neck and back segments, like many agricultural activities, had the highest rate among the body parts. Also, shorter and thinner operators reported higher pain and discomfort in some segments of the body.

The purpose of this study was to model and optimize the offline refinement operations of Sugarcane harvester hydraulic oil using RSM. For this purpose, the effects of independent variables of operating hours (250, 500 and 750 hours), Twin Dip Filter Mesh (7, 9 and 11 microns) and hydraulic oil refining times (0, 1 and 2) on variables of water contamination, uncleanness level (NAS), silicon (Si), viscosity (Vis) and oil acid number (TAN) were evaluated. The results indicated that all models were suitable for water contamination, uncleanness level (NAS), silicon (Si), viscosity (Vis) and oil acid number (TAN) for describing experimental data. In addition, the desirability function showed that the optimum conditions for the offline refinement operations of the hydraulic oil of the sugar cane harvester included 728. 61 operating hours, the 7-micron filter mesh, and the two refining times of the oil. Under this condition, the amount of water contamination, the uncleanness level (particles 5 to 15 micrometers), Vis, Si, and TAN were equal to 187. 63 ppm, 234000, 5. 91 ppm, 66. 34 centistokes and 0. 65 (mg KOH g-1), respectively.

IntroductionSugarcane is one of the strategic products of Khuzestan province, which is cultivated in 10 active agro-industrial sites and covers an area of about 110,000 hectares of irrigated farms in the province. Sugarcane harvesting, like most crops, is done by special Sugarcane harvesters. Due to the life of machines and also the amount of heavy machine operations in each season of Sugarcane harvest, the loss is inevitable. On the other hand, in Khuzestan province, due to lack of studies, there is little information in this area. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the extent of losses during Sugarcane harvesting operations, taking into account factors such as cultivars, age of Sugarcane, and reaping speed of the Astaf 7000 model. The study will be conducted at the Sugarcane agro-industrial site of Dehkhoda in 2021.Materials and MethodsThe experiment was conducted as a factorial split-plot design based on randomized complete blocks (RCBD) with three replications. The first factor included four levels of cultivars (IRC-12, CP48-103, CP 73-21, and CP69-1062), the second factor included three levels of harvest age (plant, Ratoon 1, Ratoon 2), and the third factor included three levels of speed (3, 5, and 7 km h-1). Sampling was carried out under the same and constant conditions with respect to soil moisture content, harvester operator, harvester characteristics, harvester settings, and crop density in each field.Results and DiscussionThe results of analysis of variance of the data obtained from measuring Sugarcane losses showed that the effect of cultivar on yield, full-length Sugarcane, chopped Sugarcane and splinter Sugarcane had a significant effect at a probability level of one percent. The effect of age had a significant effect on yield, full-length Sugarcane, chopped Sugarcane with a probability level of one percent, but had no significant effect on the amount of splinter Sugarcane. The interaction between cultivar and age had a significant effect on yield, chopped Sugarcane, and full-length Sugarcane with a probability level of one percent and on splinter Sugarcane with a probability level of five percent. The effect of machine speed had a significant effect on full-length Sugarcane, chopped Sugarcane and splinter Sugarcane with a probability level of one percent, but had no significant effect on yield. The interaction of cultivar and machine speed had a significant effect on yield, full-length Sugarcane, chopped Sugarcane and splinter Sugarcane with a probability level of one percent. The interaction effect of age and machine speed on yield had a significant effect on full-length Sugarcane and splinter Sugarcane with a probability level of one percent and on the amount of splinter Sugarcane with a probability level of five but had no significant effect on yield. Also, the interaction of cultivar, age and machine speed had a significant effect on yield, full-length Sugarcane and chopped Sugarcane with a probability level of one percent, but had no significant effect on the amount of splinter Sugarcane. The results showed that the highest yield in CP69-1062 variety was observed in the plant farm with average machine speed (144.33 tons per hectare). Also, the highest amount of Sugarcane losses in cultivar CP48-103 in Raton II and with 7 km h-1 machine speed (3.32 tons per hectare), the highest amount of chopped Sugarcane losses in cultivar CP48-103 in plant farm and with average speed (1.78 tons per hectare) was observed. According to the results under the interaction of cultivar and device speed, the highest amount of Sugarcane losses in CP69-1062 cultivar and high speed (0.314 tons per hectare) as well as IRC-12 cultivar and high speed (0.308 tons in Hectares), and under the interaction of farm age and speed of the harvester, the highest amount of Sugarcane losses was observed in Ratoon farm and the high speed of the harvester (0.300 tons per hectare).ConclusionTherefore, in order to reduce the amount of losses in Sugarcane fields, it is recommended to use resistant and somewhat later cultivars for cultivation, because early cultivars are more fragile during harvest due to stem fragility and the rate of losses increases. Also, harvester speed optimization reduces the amount of losses, and due to the increase in the rate of losses in reclaimed farms, it is recommended to create more resistant stem tissue by proper plant nutrition and more care to reduce the rate of losses in ratoon farms.

Introduction Mechanized harvesting of Sugarcane by harvesters and the lack of proper management of harvesting, increase the cost of production and eventually become unprofitable. In the case of Sugarcane harvester, because the systems are used to be repaired, increasing in system consumption will reduce machine reliability (Failure rate will increase). So, timely annual overhaul has effective role in enhancing the reliability of Sugarcane harvesting machines. Because of time importance indicator for reducing timeliness cost and work breakdown, project scheduling techniques and work study especially network models are used. In this study, because of the ability of GERT networks capabilities in planning and scheduling, GERT networks were used and overhaul scheduling of Sugarcane harvester in Amir Kabir Agro-Industry of Khuzestan province, Iran as a case study was analyzed. Materials and Methods The study was carried out in Khuzestan province of Iran in 2016. Data were collected from variety sources such as opinions and comments of experts and reports and statistics of Sugarcane Agro-Industry. All activity times are given in hour. At first, the project activities are determined and the work breakdown structure was drawn. Finally, GERT network was plotted and analyzed. GERT is a procedure, which combines the disciplines of the flow graph theory, Moment Generating Function (MGF) and Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) for analyzing stochastic networks having logical nodes and directed branches. Each branch has a probability that the activity associated with it will be performed. Therefore, GERT provides a visual picture of the system by means of the corresponding graph and makes it possible to analyze the given system in a less inductive manner. The following steps are employed, when applying GERT: 1. Convert a qualitative description of a system or problem to a model in a stochastic network form. 2. Collect the necessary data to describe the transmittances of the network. 3. Apply Mason’ s rule to determine the equivalent function or functions of the network. 4. Convert the equivalent function into the following two performance measures of the network: (a) The probability that a specific node is realized. (b) The moment generating function of the time associated with a node, if it is realized. 5. Make inferences concerning the system under study from the information obtained in the Step 4. Results and Discussion In this paper the GERT method has been presented for operations modeling in overhaul Sugarcane harvester. Correct scheduling of the agricultural mechanization project (overhaul) is the required condition for the project success therefore the GERT network of overhaul Sugarcane harvester was plotted. A network is a powerful tool for scheduling and simulating a project. The project network is defined as a set of activities performed according to the precedence constraint of the activities. The advantage of the GERT network in the present context is twofold. Firstly, this procedure gives the visual picture of the inspection system and secondly, it enables a thorough characterization of overhaul Sugarcane harvester. In this project, after defining activities, we estimate for each activity as a time. Then we solved the network with the GERT method. According to the materials and methods, the probability and mean of the completion time of overhaul Sugarcane harvester obtained. The worth of different parts of the network is calculated. For each node, to conclude about the probability and mean can use the above procedure and predict various events during operations. So with due attention to certain events that are occurring in the tracks of operation, good decisions can be adopted. Time completion of overhaul scheduling of the Sugarcane harvester is equal to 1164. 64 man-hours. Results showed that the network model is increasingly powerful tool to help project manager who could able to make optimum decision. Conclusions Optimized overhaul planning is a fundamental activity in business profitability because it can increase the returns from an operation with low additional costs. In this paper, a specific scheduling model for an overhaul operations scheduling is developed along with an optimal solution GERT method. The purpose of this paper is studying the application of project scheduling in agriculture, for overhaul scheduling of Sugarcane harvester using GERT method in Khuzestan province of Iran. Time completion of overhaul scheduling of Sugarcane harvester is equal to 1164. 64 man-hours.

The broken bearings, great noise and vibration often occurs with the small Sugarcane harvester transfer case when it starts up working. To analyze the startup status of the transfer case conveniently and quickly, the finite element transient structure analysis is carried out. The virtual prototype technology to simulate the transfer case's startup dynamic process and measure the instantaneous load values is used. Stress distribution and load variation analysis results show that during startup, the stress concentration of node load increases rapidly with gear speed rising transiently. The maximum value lying on the underside of the bearing base goes beyond the allowable range before dropping sharply to approach the steady state with stress within the allowable range. Therefore, at startup the impact load of the transfer case increases far greater than in the steady state which deteriorates the structure stress condition seriously. The strength of the transfer case is then enriched by structural improvement accordingly to reduce maximum stress by 36. 8%, the maximum deviation by 18. 5% and the vibration up to 30%, improving the bearings working reliability notably.

The aim of this study was to design, Constructand evaluate an electronic system for control of the forward speed control in 7000 series Sugarcane harvesters. The conventional method of control for the forward speed of Sugarcane harvester in 7000 series is mechanical. The new electronic control system was developed to replace the traditional mechanical control system. MotorStepper, drivers, micro-controller, joystick and potentiometer were used to program microcontrollers as well as C programming in code-vision. The new control system was evaluated during two series of tests. To determine the strength of the maneuverability of the harvesting machine, the first test was conducted using a factorial experiment based on completely randomized design. The maneuverability was compared for mechanical and electronic control systems under different engine rpm. The location error at stoppage time in respect to the baseline was measured as basis for maneuverability. In the second test the response time was compared with a completely randomized design in two systems. The statistical analysis showed a statistically significant difference between the control systems in 1% probability level. The maneuverability of harvester equipped with electronic control system increased significantly and it was not affected by the changes in engine rpm (forward speed). In the second test the statistical analysis showed a statistically significant difference between the control systems in 5% probability level. Electronic forward speed control system resulted in reaction speed, and device maneuverability, ease of maintenance and use, a reduction in mechanical parts usage and finally the proper functioning of the system.

Introduction: Optimal operation and maintenance of engineering systems heavily relies on the accurate prediction of their failures. Repairable engineering systems are well known in industries. A repairable engineering system indicates that the performance of this system after each failure can be restored through suitable maintenance. It is normally a complex system composed of a number of components. Failure prediction of a repairable system and its subsystems is an important topic in the reliability engineering. One of the most important repairable systems in agro-industrial companies is the Sugarcane harvester. This machine has a key role in harvesting operations of Sugarcane plant. The failures of this machine causes delay in operations and reduce products yield and quality. Currently, preventive maintenance is conducted on these harvesters to improve the overall reliability of these systems. Therefore, in this study, the long-term effect of preventive maintenance strategy on the efficiency and failure rate of the Sugarcane harvester was investigated. Materials and Methods: This research was carried out on 30 Sugarcane harvesters used by Sugarcane and by Products Development Company of Khuzestan during 6 years period. The goal of this study was to introduce a methodology aimed to acquire the information to predict the effect of preventive maintenance strategy on the failure rate and efficiency of Sugarcane harvester by time series. Time series forecasting is the use of a model to predict future values based on previously observed values. The expected shape is a forecast from a combination of an ARIMA models (AR, MA, ARMA and ARIMA). The first step in analyzing the time series is plotting the data and obtaining the sample records. The next step is consideration of a trend and periodic components and remove them from the time series and fitting the static model on the time series. The next stage is implementation of the data normalization using skewness coefficient method and their normalization through logarithm differentiation of data. The arithmetic mean of data was applied to obtain zero average of the time series. Sample ACF (Auto Correlation Function) and PACF (Partial Auto Correlation Function) was drawn and then the model rank "a" was recognized and selected by comparison of ACF and PACF for AR, MA, ARMA, and ARIMA models. Results and Discussion: According to the results of failure rate related to the Sugarcane harvester, it can be found that the mean failure rate of this machine for the 6-years period was equal to 0. 147 per hour. The minimum and maximum value of the failure rate were 0 and 0. 517 per hour, respectively. The mean annual use hours of these harvesters was 189. 8 h. Although the accumulated used hours increased, the mean time between failures (MTBF) was increased. According to Jacobs et al. (1983), the machines may breakdown due to a design defect, physical damage, or normal wear and tear, but many times machines fail because of a neglect and the lack of properly scheduled maintenance. In this study, implemented preventive maintenance resulted in decreasing of failure rate and increasing of machine efficiency as well. In 2016, the failure rate of Sugarcane harvester was decreased by 73. 23% and the machine efficiency was increased by 14. 9% compared to 2011, because timely preventative maintenance and inspection will not only help to reduce major problems and downtime, but it will also help to identify problems when they can be corrected with relatively minor repairs. Among the 12 studied subsystems, topper, electric and motor subsystems were more affected by preventive maintenance by 94. 75%, 80. 46% and 58. 74% decreasing in the failure rate, respectively. With regard to the evaluation criteria such as AIC, MAPE and RMSE, the ARIMA (1, 3, 2) model was determined as a suitable model for predicting the failure rate of Sugarcane harvester. Furthermore, there is no significant difference between statistical descriptive measures of forecasting and actual tractor failure rate that it represents high accuracy of forecasting via ARIMA model. Conclusions: This study was adapted to the preventive maintenance as a useful strategy that could increase availability and operational efficiency of the Sugarcane harvester. Furthermore, it focused on time series modeling method to analyze and forecast the reliability characteristics such as the expected number of failures per interval (failure rate). It is found that time series model is a viable alternative that gives satisfactory results for interval failure predictions in terms of its predictive performance for the Sugarcane harvester reliability.

To evaluate the effect of two Sugarcane harvesters (tire- and track-wheel) on soil compaction during the Sugarcane harvesting at different soil water contents, soil bulk density and soil strength were measured. The field experiments, measurement and laboratory tests were carried out on Debal Khazaei agro industrial Sugarcane fields in Ahvaz, Iran. The soil water contents were adjusted to low (0.09-0.14g/g), medium (0.14- 0.19g/g) and high (0.19-0.23g/g). The bulk density of soil profile at 0.10-0.15m layer increased from 1.6 g/cm³ for control plot to 1.7g/cm³ after tire-wheel harvester with 6.1% increment ratio in high soil water content. However, for chain-wheel harvester, the increment ratio in high soil water content was 3.9%. This result showed the benefit of using tire-wheel harvester in reducing soil compaction. The maximum increment ratio were 11.9% for tire-wheel harvester and 9.5% for chain-wheel harvester treatment after two trailer passes. While soil water content increased from low to medium, soil cone index raised, but this index decreased after medium soil water content to high soil water content. Almost, all trends in medium and high soil water content demonstrated significant increase in soil penetration resistance difference with harvesting operation. No significant increase in soil strength was observed at low soil water content after two harvester passes. After harvester passes, tractor transporter and trailer had two passes on soil. Finally, soil was compacted to a depth of at least 0.50 m with track-wheel harvester at medium soil water content. The maximum of soil strength increased for deep soil was 1.1 Mpa and accrued in 0.35m depth of soil when using track-wheel harvester, and so it raised cone index to 3.95 MPa. During Sugarcane harvesting, track-wheel harvester had no excellence in reducing soil compaction compared with tire-wheel harvester. It is recommended, that harvesting at low soil water content with desirable drainage and control traffic has low damage on soil properties and re-growing of Sugarcane for the next harvest.

Contamination due to hydraulic fluids exerts deleterious effects after a long time, however this factor is often ignored or its consecutive breakdowns and system failures are considered due to other factors. Therefore, in order to prevent the likelihood of occurring such problems, the following two strategies are presented: using oil change method to replace all of the hydraulic fluids from the discharge system with the new oil and using offline hydraulic oil filtration system for the removal of contaminated oil particles. In this regard, the present study aimed to investigate the economic status of cane sugar harvesting machines with an emphasis on hydraulic oil filtration process in seven units of Sugarcane developmental company and affiliated industries in Khuzestan province, Iran. To perform this study, all statistics and data of the Sugarcane and affiliated industries in seven companies during the crop year 2011-2016 were collected and classified. The results indicated that the application of the hydraulic filtration method led to the oil consumption saving (per liter) and in price (Iranian Rial) during the three crop-years of 2014-2016, as following: Imam Khomeini: 25500 L and 2882154363 Rials, Amir Kabir: 49000 L and 5847389466 Rials, Hakim Farabi: 82000 L and 9534396744 Rials, Dabal Khazaee: 73400 L and 6808230362 Rials, Dehkhoda: 31680 L and 3421979639 Rials, Salman Farsi: 73500 L and 7606675370 Rials and Mirza Koochak Khan: 75934 L and 8083068395 Rials.

The effective bandwidth of a bi-stable electromechanical energy harvester is investigated. The harvester’ s configuration is in the form of a cantilever beam in which the piezoelectric layers are attached on its two sides. The whole device undergoes sinusoidal base excitation. In addition an axial force is applied to the end of the beam. Post-buckling is caused by this force and system becomes bistable. The cantilever beam is modeled as a nonlinear Euler-Bernoulli beam and equations of motion are generated using Lagrangian method. The equations then discretize via Assumed Mode method and governing equations are solved via Complexification Averaging solution and compared with numerical results. Different attractors such as periodic, quasi-periodic and chaotic attractors are detected and their relative frequency domains are identified. Using semi-solution method, boundaries of different areas plotted in the base excitation-frequency domain. Finally, Uni-modal and multimodal cases are studied and compared with each other. It is shown that the uni-modal solution does not predict the behavior of the system correctly.