Combine Harvester Blades – Ultimate FAQ
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What is a Combine Harvester?
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What are combine harvester blades?
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What are the parts of a combine harvester?
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How does a combine harvester work?
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What are the advantages of using combine harvesters?
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On which working principle does a combine harvester work?
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How are combine harvester blades manufactured?
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What are the requirements of a perfect combine harvester?
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What type of combine harvesters available?
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Which is the best combine header?
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How to choose the right combine header?
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How to control the height of a combine header?
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Which are the best powerful combine harvesters?
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How heavy is a combine harvester?
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What are the spare parts of the Kubota combine harvester?
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What is the biggest combine harvester in the world?
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What is a Combine Harvester?
In the agricultural industry, Combine Harvester or Combine is a machine that is designed to harvest different varieties of grain crops.
Combine harvester has got its name from the fact that it combines three basic operations into a single process:
- Reaping
- Threshing
- Winnowing
Combines perform their whole job automatically and efficiently. They use different parts like blades, sieves, wheels, and elevators that cut, thresh, and clean the grain.
The cleaned grain is collected inside a tank in the combine harvester and is emptied into the carts pulled by tractors, periodically.
Almost are kinds of crops are harvested with a combine because they have interchangeable headers.
These crops include wheat, oats, barley, maize, sorghum, soybeans, sunflower, canola, and linseed.
Figure 1 A combine harvester, harvesting a wheat farm
Combine harvesters have significantly replaced the population that is involved in agriculture.
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What are combine harvester blades?
Combine harvester blades are those parts of the combine that scraps the surface of the crops like wheat, barley, corn, etc.
Figure 2 Combine harvester blades
The most common materials which are used for the manufacturing of these blades are iron and steel.
Different manufacturers in the market provide these blades as per the requirement of their customers.
The critical working part of a harvester is a cutting blade. Generally, two types of blades are used in combine harvesters rotary blades and reciprocating type.
These blades include a triangular tooth type structure that is widely used in wheat and rice harvesting.
Structure:
The structure of blades in combine harvester comprises a middle cutting member between an upper and a lower cutting member and allows the middle cutting member to cut grain such as rice.
The upper cutting member has a plurality of uppercutting blades and the lower cutting member to reciprocate horizontally.
Also, the latest invention is made by the movement guide portion and the movement limiting projection.
To cut more effectively, it limits the reciprocating movement distance of the intermediate cutting portion.
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What are the parts of a combine harvester?
All the parts of a combine work altogether, these are:
- The header
- Feeder house
- Thresher
- Separator
- Cleaning fan
- Straw chopper
- How does a combine harvester work?
Different processes are going on in a Combine harvester:
- Taking in Crops
Crops first come in contact with the header and feeder house, and the header front has a pair of pincers called crop dividers.
The pace at which the harvester cuts a field highly depends upon the size of the header, the wider the header, the faster will be the harvesting process.
There is a specific header for one particular crop; it can be changed and towed behind the harvester.
The standard header is also known as a grain platform equipped with cutter bars to cut the crop that falls into the auger afterward.
Generally, a rigid platform is used for the cutting of cereal grains.
Draper headers for wheat crop use rubber or fabric apron.
- Pick-up reel
From the header, the crop is directed to the rotating wheel also known as the pick-up wheel that pushes the yield toward the cutter.
- Cutter bar
The combine harvester cutter bar is located underneath the reel along the entire length of the header.
Its teeth are known as combine fingers open and close to cut the crops.
Spinning augers are used to convey the crops toward the center behind the cutter bars.
- Conveyer
The crops travel to the conveyer inside the main parts of the combine harvester where it gets processed further.
Figure 3 Working of a combine harvester
- Threshing drum
In this segment, combine works by using the rubbing activity between the rasp bars and concave to knock the seeds from the seed heads, kernels from cobs, and beans from pods.
The efficiency of the rubbing action depends upon some factors:
- Rotor or cylinder speed
- Clearance between the threshing crops and surface of the concave
The rasp bars are in the shape of a quarter cylinder fixed in a horizontal position across the path of the crop.
Limitations:
- If the rubbing action is too high, then the grain gets crushed.
- If the rubbing action is too fast, then the grain gets cracked.
The optimum clearance of concave depends upon the manual of the owner.
- Straw walkers
Straw walkers are used to passing out unwanted materials like chaff and stalks toward the rear region of the machine.
- Spreader
Spreader of combine harvesters throws the unwanted materials like chaff and stalks over a wide area from the back of the combine.
This straw is baled up by using bailing machines and used for animal feeding.
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What are the advantages of using combine harvester?
As the world population is increasing day by day, agriculture will be called upon to provide maximum yields in food production with relatively little increase in land usage.
So the solution to the whole problem is associated with automation.
And combine harvester has proven to be the best solution to these issues.
A combine harvester is the best invention in the agriculture industry.
- It helps farmers to tackle the peak time labour shortage.
- It reduces crop loss.
- It takes lesser time in harvesting the whole crop of a season.
- It has reduced the cost of production.
- Farmers can harvest their crop in a short time.
- Combines are more efficient and productive than man-labor.
- On which working principle, does a combine harvester work?
The suitable working speed of combine harvesters for different crops is:
- 8-8km/hr for rice
- 2-6km/hr for wheat
The principle on which combine harvester works is:
- Feeding the crops to the cutter bars
- Cutting of the crop
- Directing the crop to the threshing unit
- Threshing the crop
- Separation of the husk from the grains
- Cleaning of the grains
- Conveying of the grains
- Storage of the grains
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How are combine harvester blades manufactured?
Combine harvester blades are manufactured by different processes.
Blades have teeth on them for scraping the surface of the crops.
At the front of the combine, there is a reel next to a cutter unit that chops the crops.
Hay cutter blades are supplied with these combine harvesting blades by most of the blade suppliers.
Proper maintenance of blades is required.
For achieving a good cut, Yanmar tiller blades perform effectively.
Hay cutter blades must be changed and replaced before the hay season starts.
Blades must be sharp enough to cut the forage finely and to minimize leaf and stem shattering.
Combine harvester manufacturers manufacture these blades according to the requirement of the clients.
Figure 4 Kubota tiller tines
Selection of blades must be taken into account, shallower 10- or 11- degree blades create less airlift, thus pulling less dirt into forage.
These blades can be a great choice if less suction works for your crop.
Abundant forage may require different blades such as 18- degree blade.
The cutting height must be 1.5 – 3 inches to reduce contamination from dirt which makes the crop easier to rake and to pick up with the baler.
- What are the requirements of a perfect combine harvester?
There are some requirements of a perfect combine harvester:
- More output with safety measures
- Proper threshing of grains without any injury
- It should give clean grains
- Less consumption of spares and fuel
- No unthrashed grain
- Ease of operation
- Easy to maintain
- No grain losses at the cutter bar end
- No grain losses at the rear of harvesting unit
- The machine should be capable of working on various crops
- There should be less broken grains
All the requirements mentioned above must be present in a combine harvester to carry out the process of harvesting more effectively.
- What type of combine harvesters available?
The two common types of combine harvester available are:
- Tractor mounted wheel type combine harvester
These are of two sizes smaller and bigger with a cutting capacity of 1.25-2.5 meters and 3-6 meters.
Their working power is covered by the auxiliary engine.
- Self-propelled track-type combine harvester
These are the latest model with the power of 60-150 Hp and cutting width of 1.5-2 meter for smaller and 2-7 meter for bigger combine harvesters.
The power requirement per meter cutting width is about 15 Hp/meter. The suitable working speed infield is 2-6 km/hr and in the road is 4-20 km/hr.
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Which is the best combine header?
Different combines and headers are preferred for ease of operation:
| Combines |
Votes |
Percentage % |
| Deere |
45 |
35.4% |
| Case |
26 |
20.5% |
| Auger’s head |
08 |
6.3% |
| Draper’s head |
87 |
68.5% |
| Chopping corn head |
07 |
5.5% |
| Stripper head for wheat |
11 |
8.7% |
| Regular corn head |
09 09 |
7.1% |
It’s essential to get a header that will utilize the capacity of a combine harvester.
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How to choose the right combine header?
The right selection of combine header is crucial as they are to handle a wide range of field condition, maximizes field time, and improves the yield.
There are many choices, but the following factors must be kept into mind while choosing a combine header:
A perfect size header is required for a particular combine so that it can utilize the full capacity of it.
If the combine is bigger than the header, then the header will not be able to utilize the full capacity of the harvester.
The capacity of the combine is lost because of its adjustment for the smaller amount of crops coming into it.
Compatibility is the thing one should be cared about while buying the perfect header for combine.
It is to make sure that the header has electronics on it so it will able to communicate with the combine computers and do what combine capacity offers.
Some headers offer an additional transport package that gives the ability to carry them by putting wheels down at the rear of a combine.
Figure 5 Combine harvester with a big combine header
As there is a variety of headers, each header is used for a particular crop harvesting.
For example, in the case of wheat, “will it be harvested as a standing crop or with a stripper header?”
The overall capability of the harvesting system must be taken into account before choosing the right header.
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How to control the height of a combine header?
According to an estimation, 75% of the crop loss occurs at the header just because of the improper header height adjustments.
To increase the harvest yield and to decrease the total harvest time, the header height is appropriately adjusted.
The distance between the ground and the header tip is known as header height.
The header height can be adjusted by raising or lowering the header width with the help of an actuator that is usually hydraulic.
Much of the viable crop will be left unharvested if the header is set at too much height.
Conversely, if the height of the header is too low, equipment damage will result.
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Which are the best powerful combine harvesters?
The best powerful combine harvesters that are recommended are:
Class Lexion 700 Series
All new 700 series Lexion combines feature new feeder house drives.
Lexion is providing extensive heavy-duty feeder house drive additionally with the engines.
Deutz-Fahr C9000
These combines have outstanding productivity with extraordinary versatility.
They have powerful engines, unbeatably low running costs, superlative fuel consumption and simple maintenance.
John Deere S Series
John Deere has introduced a harvesting system like no other in history repeating itself in the right way with optimal performance and minimize cost
New Holland CR10.90
The CR10.90 has a giant internal crop tank of any harvester, at 14,500 Litres.
Case IH Axial-Flow 140 Series Combine
These combine increase productivity, featuring more standard features that make it easier to adjust to different harvesting crops.
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How heavy is a combine harvester?
The simple plot combine harvesters have gross weight of 3,500 kg, approved for use on public roads.
The optional lightweight system gives a high-performance 4-cylinder YANMAR diesel engine:
36 kW (49 HP) output, 2.0-litre displacement.
These combines are made by using lightweight materials so they can easily be towed by a car.
- What are the spare parts of the Kubota combine harvester?
The spare parts of Kubota combine harvester are manufactured by using high-grade quality raw materials.
These spare parts of the Kubota combine harvester can be customized as per the customer’s specifications.
Figure 6 Kubota combine harvester spare parts
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What is the biggest combine harvester in the world?
New Holland Agriculture has released the world’s most powerful and biggest CR10.90 combine harvester.
It has thrown down a grainy gauntlet to Claas, John Deere, and the rest of the agriculture industry.
Specifications of CR10.90:
- 16-litre, six-cylinder inline diesel engine
- The cursor 16
- A 14,500-litre grain storage tank
- Chaff-smoking 652 horsepower (486 KW) fit to thresh the crops of the competition
