2022

AGRICULTURAL AND BIOSYSTEMS ENGINEERING

BOARD EXAM REVIEWER

REVIEW OF AGRICULTURAL
MACHINERY
by

Engr. Alexis T. Belonio, MS

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineer
ASEAN Engineer

Volume 5 – Design and Testing of Agricultural Machines

 INTRODUCTION

n Agricultural Machinery – deals with the study of application,

use, and management of various agricultural machines, tools,
and equipment used for production and post-production
operation.
n Agricultural Mechanization - is the development,
manufacture and extension of appropriate agricultural tools,
implements, and machinery using animal, human, mechanical,
electrical, and other renewable sources of energy for
agricultural production and development and post harvest
operations.
CLASSIFICATIONS OF AGRICULTURAL
MACHINES

n Agricultural Field Equipment

• Agricultural Field Implement -
• Agricultural Tractors
n Farmstead Equipment
1. Agricultural Field Equipment – designed primarily for
agricultural field operation. These include agricultural tractors,
self-propelled machines, implements, and their combinations.

(a) Agricultural Tractors – are traction machines designed

primarily to supply power to agricultural implements and
farmstead equipment. They propel itself and provide a force
to the direction of travel to enable attached soil-engaging
and other agricultural implement to perform its intended
function.

(b) Agricultural Implement - are designed to perform agricultural

operations. These are further classified into: towed,
mounted, and semi-mounted implements.

(c) Self-Propelled Machines – are implement designed with

integral power unit to provide both mobility and power in
performing agricultural operations.
2. Farmstead Equipment – These are equipment other than
agricultural field equipment used in agricultural operation for
the production of food and fiber. These include livestock
equipment, waste-handling system, crop drying and milling
systems, material handling system, and others.
 Classifications of Agricultural Equipment
According to Operation
1. Tillage Equipment - These include plow and harrow used to prepare the
land making it ready for seeding and planting operations.
a. Primary Tillage
b. Secondary Tillage

2. Seeding and Planting Equipment – These are equipment used to place

seeds or plant parts into the prepared seedbed.
a. Seeder
b. Transplanter

3. Crop Maintenance Equipment – These include cultivating, weeding,

spraying, dusting, as well as irrigation equipment aimed at making sure
that the crop grows to produce its potential yield.
a. Weeder
b. Sprayer and Duster
c. Cultivator
4. Harvesting and Threshing Equipment - These are equipment used
to gather and separate the produced from the panicles and make
them ready for primary processing operation.

5. Drying Equipment - These are equipment used to reduce the

moisture of the product to a level that it can be stored with
minimum loss from spoilage.

6. Milling Equipment - These are equipment used to process the

product ready for consumption.

7. Storage Equipment - These are equipment used to keep the

product safe from deterioration or spoilage for prolonged period of
storage.
 Agricultural Tractor

• Machine used primarily for traction or pulling purposes.

• It can also deliver power for both stationary and mobile tasks.
• It can pull or tow implement through traction from drive wheel or
pull implement through the draft developed from the drawbar.
 Plows

• They are used as primary tillage implement constituting the initial

major soil-working operation, normally designed to reduce soil
strength, cover plant materials, and rearrange aggregates.
• Moldboard Plow – invert soil
• Disk Plow – loosen and invert soil
• Chisel Plow – loosen soil
• Rotary Plow – mix soil
• Subsoiler – deep loosening of soil or hardpan
 Harrows

¡ Used as secondary tillage implement designed to control weed

growth and to create specific soil surface configuration before
seeding
• Disk Harrow
• Peg-Tooth Harrow
• Spring Tooth Harrow
• Comb Harrow
• Power Harrow
 Power Tillers

¡ Hand-operated machines used to till small sizes of land enough to

replace draft animals.
• Hand Tractor - used for pulling small plows or harrows to
prepare a paddy field.
• Floating-Type Tiller - equipment used for water-logged areas
where ordinary power tiller cannot be used.
 Seeders

¡ Machines used to open a furrow, place the seeds, and cover them
in a prepared soil.
• Drill planter
• Row Planter
• Broadcaster
• Drum Seeder
 Planter

¡ Machine used to place seedlings or plant parts in a prepared soil.

• Rice Transplanter
• Sugar Planter
 Sprayers

¡ Machines used to break liquid into droplets of effective size and

distribute them uniformly over the surface or space to be
protected.
• Compressed-Air Sprayer
• Knapsack Sprayer
• Power Sprayer
• Aerosol Sprayer or Fogging Machine
 Reaper

• Reaper-Windrower – a harvesting machine used to cut standing

crops and lay them down on the field in an orderly manner in a
row.

• Reaper-Binder – a harvesting machine used both to cut and bind

the crops and afterwards lay the bundles of stalks on the ground.
 Stripper Harvester

• Machine that combines harvesting and threshing into single

operation.
• It differs from combine harvester in that it permits the removal of
grains directly from the heads or panicle without cutting the stalks.
 Combine Harvester

¡ Self-propelled machine which harvests and threshes the grains at

the same time making them ready for drying and storage.
• Check-Row or Oriental-Type
• Reel-Type or Western-Type
 Rice Thresher

¡ Machine that separates rice grains from panicle.

• Hold-on or Thrown-In
• Axial-Flow or Radial-Flow
• Peg-Tooth, Wire Loop, or Rasp Bar
• With or Without Cleaner or Mobile with Cleaner
 Sheller

¡ Machine used to separate seeds from cobs or pods.

• Corn Sheller
• Peanut Sheller
• Coffee-Bean Sheller
• Coffee Sheller
 Grain Dryer

¡ Machine used to reduce the moisture of the grains from a level

that is in equilibrium with the atmosphere to about 14%.
• Flatbed Dryer
• Recirculating Dryer
• Continuous-Flow Dryer
• In-Storage-Bin Dryer
• Warehouse Dryer
• Flash Dryer
 Rice Mill

¡ Machine used to convert paddy into milled rice.

• Single-Pass Rice Mill and Multiple-Pass Rice Mill
• Rubber Roll, Stone Disc, Steel-Flueted Mill, and Centrifugal
Huller
 Pump

¡ Machine used to lift water at a given flow rate and head.

• Axial Pump
• Centrifugal Pump
• Mixed-flow Pump
• Lift Pump
• Screw Pump
 Size-Reduction Equipment

¡ Machines used to reduce the size of materials into granular or

powdered form either by cutting, shearing, impact or their
combinations.
• Hammer Mill
• Burr Mill
• Steel-Flueted Mill
• Pulverizer
 Biomass Shredder

¡ Machine used to reduce the size of fibrous materials and shatter

the fiber through impact action of the beaters or hammers.
 Grain Storage Equipment

¡ Equipment used to safely store the grains immediately after

drying without significant loss in quality.
• Bin and Silos
• Bucket elevator
• Belt conveyor
• Screw conveyors
• Etc.
 Important Terms

n Effective field capacity - Actual rate of land or crop

processed in a given time.
n Theoretical field capacity - Rate of performance obtained if
a machine performs its function 100% of the time at a given
operating speed using 100% of its theoretical width.
n Field efficiency - Ratio of effective field capacity to field
capacity, expressed in percent.
QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS
1. Primary tillage equipment a. Moldboard plow
used to cut and invert the soil in b. Disc Plow
order to destroy weeds prior to c. Screw Plow
secondary tillage operation. d. None of the above
a. Rotary plow
b. Moldboard plow 4. Self-propelled machine used
c. Chisel plow for tilling the soil in water logged
d. None of the above areas by using rotary driven
puddlers.
2. Primary tillage equipment a. Puddling-type floating tiller
used to pulverize the soil in b. Hydrotiller
order to minimize the need for a c. Turtle tiller
harrow during land preparation. d. All of the above
a. Rotary plow e. None of the above
b. Moldboard plow
c. Chisel plow 5. Which of the following is not
d. None of the above a crop establishment equipment
for sugar crops?
3. Primary tillage implement for a. Rice Seeder
rice crop that is attached to the b. Rice transplanter
axle drive instead to the hitch c. All of the above
point of power tiller. d. None of the above
6. Which of the following is not a f. All of the above
crop establishment equipment g. Three of the above
for sugar crops? h. None of the above
a. Rice Seeder
b. Rice transplanter 9. Which of the following are
c. All of the above corn machines?
d. None of the above a. Power tiller
b. Seeder
7. Considered as crop c. Knapsack sprayer
maintenance equipment. d. Sheller
a. Sprayer e. All of the above
b. Cultivator f. Two of the above
c. Weeder g. None of the above
d. All of the above
e. None of the above

8. Which of the following are

machines used for rice crop?
a. Power tiller
b. Transplanter
c. Knapsack sprayer
d. Reaper
e. Thresher
10. Which of the following is not a 13. Machine that only cuts standing
post-harvest equipment? rice panicles and lay them down in
a. Rice stripper harvester a windrow during harvesting.
b. Rice reaper a. Stripper harvester
c. Rice thresher b. Reaper harvester
d. All of the above c. Combine harvester
d. All of the above
11. Machine used to separate
paddy from the panicle. 14. Machine that cuts, threshes
a. Reaper and cleans paddy during
b. Sheller harvesting operation.
c. Thresher a. Stripper harvester
d. None of the above b. Reaper harvester
c. Combine harvester
12. Machine that is used to d. All of the above
separate impurities from good
grains. 15. Machine that harvest paddy by
a. Grain cleaner the combing action of rotating
b. Grain grader rubber fingers.
c. Grain sorter a. Stripper harvester
d. All of the above b. Reaper harvester
c. Combine harvester
d. All of the above
16. Postharvest machine that is a. Tray-type dryer
used to remove the moisture of the b. Spray dryer
grains down to equilibrium level c. Fluidized bed dryer
with the atmosphere to arrest d. None of the above
deterioration and spoilage.
a. Dehydrator 19. Size-reduction equipment that
b. Dryer is equipped with revolving paddles
c. Heater hitting the materials by means of
d. None of the above impact over a perforated screen.
a. Roller mill
17. Dryer composed of a bin b. Attrition mill
horizontally positioned with an air c. Hammer mill
moving device and a heater is d. All of the above
provided to dry the grains.
a. Rotary dryer 20. Solid-mixing device used to mix
b. Flatbed dryer animal feed ingredients using
c. Tray dryer helical flights inside a semi
d. All of the above cylindrical compartment.
a. Horizontal mixer
18. Dryer suitable for perishable b. Vertically mixer
crops where the materials being c. Inclined conveyor type mixer.
dried are placed on top of the d. None of the above
screen layers inside a
compartment or cabinet.