INTEGRATION OF THE GRINDING FUNCTION WITH A CEREAL THRESHER FOR THE RECOVERY OF CROP RESIDUES IN COMPOSTING

The objective of this article is to design and characterize the technical performance of the agricultural residue grinding function integrated into the operation of a multi-purpose cereal thresher. For the farmer, this equipment will have the advantage to realize out threshing, grinding, and water pumping. Water pumping will allowwatering the agricultural residues after their grinding.The Functional Analysis (FA) was used to identify new useful functions and technical solutions for the grinding function to be integrated into the design. The multifunctional thresher-grinder has been designed and manufactured. Grinding performance tests compared to manual machete cutting of corn and rice residues were performed. The results show that production times per tonne of the broyats are higher than those of manual machete cutting more than 61%. The size of the broyats is reduced from 17 to 72%, and the diameter from 71 to 80% compared to manual machete cutting. These results will be used as benchmarks for testing other types of residues.