Strength Improvement of Front axle of Model EMG-MJU-003 Rice Combine Harvester

Abstract

Nowadays, Thai farmers have started to use agricultural machinery for harvest as a substitute for human labor, which reduces the use of human labor. However, the use of these machines is quite limited and expensive. For these reasons, many groups of farmers could not afford them. So, our research team has designed and built a prototype combine harvester (model ENG-MJU-003), which is a small combine harvester. It has a 30 hp engine and is powered by hydrostatic tires. The research team found a problem with the strength of the front axle, where it was deflected after the test, as the front axle acts as a support beam for the combine harvester. Therefore, this research aimed to determine the strength of the front axle beam of the ENG-MJU-003 harvester by using the finite element method by comparing the front axle beam supporting the weight before and after improvement.

The results of the strength analysis showed that the maximum stress of the beams before and after the improvement was 200.4 MPa and 65.4 MPa, the deflection was 0.33 mm and 0.13 mm, the safety factor is 1.2 and 3.8 respectively. The results of the strength analysis by finite element method allowed the research team to develop a more appropriate