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The effect of design parameters on the force and energy requirement for cutting oil palm fronds using magnetic force
Mohd Rizal Ahmad1, Nordin Jamaludin2, Abdul Razak Jelani3, Azwan Bakri4, Abd Rahim Shuib5.
Harvesting is one of the main activities in the oil palm plantation which has a high labour requirement. Efforts in developing harvesting technology have been initiated since the beginning of oil palm cultivation in Malaysia. Some of the harvesting tools/machines were developed without considering essential technical information such as the physical properties of fronds and bunch stalk as well as power requirements in the cutting processes. The research objective was to investigate several technical parameters prior to the development of a harvesting tool. The study investigated the effects of the magnetic actuator force, cutting angle, and frond moisture content on the specific cutting force (SCF) and specific cutting energy (SCE) for cutting oil palm fronds. Two types of linear magnetic actuators (500 N and 750 N) and three cutting angles (30°, 45°, and 60°) were tested on two levels of frond moisture contents (< 50% and > 50% moisture contents). Experiments conducted revealed that cutting angle and frond moisture content had a significant effect on SCF and SCE, but not the magnetic force. The minimum values of SCF and SCE were 0.39 N/cm2 and 2.04 N/cm (cutting angle of 45°, moisture content > 50%), while the maximum values were 2.94 N/cm2 and 4.12 N/cm, respectively (cutting angle of 60° and moisture content < 50%). The study also revealed that cutting drier fronds (low moisture content) increased the SCF and SCE significantly. A prototype of an oil palm magnetic cutter was developed. Functional tests carried out showed its cutting performance was 254-frond/hour, proving that magnetic force is capable to be used as a cutter’s actuator.
Affiliation:
- Malaysian Palm Oil Board, Malaysia
- Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia
- Malaysian Palm Oil Board, Malaysia
- Malaysian Palm Oil Board, Malaysia
- Malaysian Palm Oil Board, Malaysia
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Indexation |
Indexed by |
MyJurnal (2021) |
H-Index
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6 |
Immediacy Index
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0.000 |
Rank |
0 |
Indexed by |
Scopus 2020 |
Impact Factor
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CiteScore (1.4) |
Rank |
Q3 (Engineering (all)) |
Additional Information |
SJR (0.191) |
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