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Volume 70, Issue 2
Displaying 1-19 of 19 articles from this issue
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M. NAGATA2008 Volume 70 Issue 2 Pages 1-2
Published: March 01, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: November 01, 2012
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Kohei TASAKA, Shinori TSUCHIYA2008 Volume 70 Issue 2 Pages 4-8
Published: March 01, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: November 01, 2012
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Yoshihiro TOBIMATU2008 Volume 70 Issue 2 Pages 9-14
Published: March 01, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: November 01, 2012
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Masami UENO, Eizo TAIRA, Liya SUN2008 Volume 70 Issue 2 Pages 15-20
Published: March 01, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: November 01, 2012
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M. KAMEI, M. MUNESHIGE2008 Volume 70 Issue 2 Pages 21-22
Published: March 01, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: November 01, 2012
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S. KATSUNO, Y. IWASAKI2008 Volume 70 Issue 2 Pages 23-25
Published: March 01, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: November 01, 2012
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K. OZAWA2008 Volume 70 Issue 2 Pages 26-31
Published: March 01, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: November 01, 2012
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2008 Volume 70 Issue 2 Pages 32-37
Published: March 01, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: November 01, 2012
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A Case Study in Udon Thani ProvinceKriengkri KAEWTRAKULPONG, Tomohiro TAKIGAWA, Masayuki KOIKE, Hideo HAS ...2008 Volume 70 Issue 2 Pages 51-61
Published: March 01, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: November 01, 2012
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSIn Thailand, the cost of sugarcane harvesting and transportation constitutes a significant portion of the total sugarcane production cost. In order to reduce the total cost, it is necessary to clarify the current shortcomings of the harvesting and transportation processes. A field study was conducted in Udon Thani province, in northeastern Thailand, to accumulate information for analyzing the system's current shortcomings. The accumulated information showed that mechanical harvesting is key for reducing harvesting cost by around 8 to 57 US$ per ha, when compared with manual harvesting in the case of burned and green cutting, respectively. In addition, analyses performed through the use of a simple sugarcane harvesting and transportation simulation based on data obtained by time studies of the harvesting and transportation operations indicated that the field capacity of a chopper-type mechanical sugarcane harvester depends on the condition of the field in which it works, and the number of accompanying trucks it requires. Though the sizes of the fields in this area are relatively small, the accumulated area of fields having row lengths of longer than 160m which allows the effective usage of a chopper was 316 ha or 51% of the total field area in this region. This fact shows that chopper can work at high capacity in half of the sugarcane fields in this region. However, the limited availability of trucks significantly influences the efficiency of mechanical sugarcane harvesting and transportation. In addition, since truck allocation affects the profit distribution among the various groups engaged in sugarcane production (i.e., sugarcane factories, machinery owners, and farmers) a truck allocation plan should be devised based on input from these groups.View full abstractDownload PDF (7154K) -
An Application of Multi-objective OptimizationKriengkri KAEWTRAKULPONG, Tomohiro TAKIGAWA, Masayuki KOIKE, Hideo HAS ...2008 Volume 70 Issue 2 Pages 62-71
Published: March 01, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: November 01, 2012
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSThe allocation of mechanical harvesters and trucks to reduce the cost in sugarcane harvest influences the profit distribution among the three groups involved: sugarcane farmers, the owners of the trucks and mechanical harvesters, and sugar factories. These groups usually do not have common interests. Therefore, multi-objective optimization (MOO) was applied in this study to find a compromise solution. The parameters used in the MOO model were evaluated by using a simple sugarcane harvesting and transportation simulation derived from the field study in northeastern Thailand. The results showed that the compromise solution obtained from MOO was more acceptable than the solutions obtained from single-objective optimization. The results of analysis of variance indicated that the main factors influencing cost were the distance to a sugar factory, field size, and their interaction. In addition, cost reduction and efficient operation in mechanical harvesting and transportation were achieved in this study.View full abstractDownload PDF (1684K) -
Dongsheng XIAO, Juzo MATSUDA, Baogang LIU, Kazuhiko OHMIYA2008 Volume 70 Issue 2 Pages 72-79
Published: March 01, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: November 01, 2012
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSThe performance of mesophilic dry anaerobic digestion for the treatment of municipal solid waste through co-digestion with swine manure was evaluated. The co-digestion process was conducted on a pilot-scale (20 liters of effective fermentation volume) operating in the mesophilic range (37°C). Biogas production rate was about 0.3ml/g-volatile solids (VS), and the threshold of organic loading rate was about 6g-VS/kg-sludge·day. A correlation was obtained between biogas yield and organic loading rate, y=0.3x (y: biogas yield, x: organic loading rate), when x was below the threshold, and VS removal efficiency was about 39%. The results showed that a mesophilic dry anaerobic codigestion process is an alternative feasible process for treating livestock manure and organic fraction of municipal solid waste.View full abstractDownload PDF (3508K) -
Joel M. ALCARAZ, Jun YAMASHITA, Kazunobu SATO2008 Volume 70 Issue 2 Pages 80-89
Published: March 01, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: November 01, 2012
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSA prototype trailer-mounted mechanical drawbar control system was developed to facilitate the operation of a tractor-trailer combination (TTC) in greenhouse. It was designed to solve the problems of jackknifing and zigzagging of the TTC when driving in a reverse direction and the large turning radius on sharp curves and narrow roads when going forward. The prototype performance was compared to the conventional drawbar hitching system. The results showed that it attained a straight reverse direction at a minimal yaw rate of 0.025-0.05deg/s while the conventional system was observed to be on zigzag path when controlling the steering wheel and jackknifed when steadily held. A reduction in the turning radius and TTC track width of 16 and 20%, respectively, were attained for a 360 degree turn at a maximum tractor steering angle of 42 degrees.View full abstractDownload PDF (3622K) -
Damage Classification and Determination of a Sorting StandardMitsuhiko KATAHIRA, Akira TAMURA, Shu-huai ZHAN, Takahiro OHIZUMI, Tsu ...2008 Volume 70 Issue 2 Pages 90-96
Published: March 01, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: November 01, 2012
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSThis study investigated sorting points and sorting grades to facilitate the development of a green soybean-sorting machine using image processing. For green soybeans harvested at the optimal time, 36-44% of the pods were classified outside the grade. Of those, 6-15% showed mechanical damage. We classified the mechanical damage into types I-V. Furthermore, we classified the sorting points for shape damage, damage due to green soybean seed maturity, damage due to pests, and mechanical damage. Among those points, pest damage and mechanical damage (type I, type II, type V) that produced color change points in the pods were classified according to the ratio of damaged areas to total pod area. Therefore, grade A was less than 10%, grade B was 10-15%, and outside grade (substandard) was greater than 15%.View full abstractDownload PDF (5943K) -
Fumihito MIYATAKE, Kazunori IWABUCHI, Yoshiyuki ABE, Yoshifumi HONDA2008 Volume 70 Issue 2 Pages 97-103
Published: March 01, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: November 01, 2012
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSThe effect of seeding on the early stage of animal waste composting was investigated. Seeding affected the initial pH and the initial number of microorganisms in the manure. Seeding low pH manure increased initial pH, which prevented the lag phase. Seeding also increased the initial number of microorganisms, inducing that the specific growth rate of microorganisms was enhanced over a wide temperature range. This increase in specific growth rate was attributed to an increased rate of heat production at 50°C. Although the increase in microbial number had no significant effect on the acceleration of composting reaction, the enhancement of microbial activity produced a sharp increase in temperature during the early stage of composting.View full abstractDownload PDF (961K) -
Assurance of Reliability and Safety of Unmanned OperationYosuke MATSUO, Osamu YUKUMOTO, Noboru NOGUCHI, Yasuyuki HAMADA2008 Volume 70 Issue 2 Pages 104-112
Published: March 01, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: November 01, 2012
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSFunctions of self-diagnosis and abnormality alarming were added to the Tilling Robot employing the XNAV navigation system to assure the reliability and the safety of unmanned operation. The self-diagnosis function confirms the normality of the navigation data acquisition and the robot's setting and actions before unmanned operation. The abnormality alarming function checks the states of the navigation data acquisition and the robot's operation during unmanned operation. When the self-diagnosis or the abnormality alarming function detects any abnormalities, correction and recovery to normal states are accomplished with man-robot communications. These functions were confirmed to operate as designed by the test with abnormal states.View full abstractDownload PDF (4072K) -
Takayuki TSUKAMOTO, Nizar JABER, Souhei WAKABAYASHI, Noboru NOGUCHI2008 Volume 70 Issue 2 Pages 113-119
Published: March 01, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: November 01, 2012
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSBiogas generated from the digestion of organic wastes has been regarded as a potential fuel for various applications, many of them involving engines. This research studies the effect of feeding Biogas into the intake manifold of a single cylinder diesel engine, concentrating on the emissions. In fact, a four (4) kW single cylinder diesel engine with 0.309L displacement was run on diesel alone, and then fed three biogas rates (5, 10 and 15L/min) with three different methane concentrations of approximately 100%, 60% and 45%. The concentrations of nitrogen oxides, unburned hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide in exhaust gas were measured while smoke were estimated using an opacity meter.
The effect of adding pure methane (100%) into the engine conformed to studies dealing with CNG-diesel engines. Decreased smoke and nitrogen oxides emissions were indeed observed along an increase in carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons.
In terms of emissions, the biogas injection into the engine caused higher unburned hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide levels in exhaust gases; it also reduced nitrogen oxides and smoke. Due to the higher hydrogen concentration in methane as compared to diesel, the carbon dioxide emission was slightly decreased. Interestingly, since the carbon dioxide resulting from methane burning recycles into the biomass, the greenhouse warming effect of engine operation is reduced by more than half.
This research proved that biogas injection into diesel engine not only reduces diesel consumption, but also limits environment pollution by decreasing greenhouse gases.View full abstractDownload PDF (1177K) -
The Influence of Reactor Design on Reaction EfficiencyWataru IIJIMA, Yuichi KOBAYASHI, Ken TANIWAKI2008 Volume 70 Issue 2 Pages 120-126
Published: March 01, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: November 01, 2012
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSThe purpose of this study is to develop a new process for producing alternative diesel fuel by simultaneous application of methanolysis and thermal cracking. We evaluated reactor design in terms of the reaction velocity of the methanolysis reaction of triglyceride using a small-scale continuous flow reactor. The yield of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) was 14% or less when using a straight-tube reactor having an internal diameter of 6mm and a length of 500mm. We conjecture that the reason for this low yield is that the reaction area of the two-phase fluids was very small, since oil and methanol did not completely mix in this reactor. We therefore developed a coil-shaped reactor having an internal diameter of 1.78mm and a length of 8,000mm. Using this reactor, the yield of FAME increased to 60%. We consider that the small internal diameter and the shape of the reactor improved the mixing conditions of oil and methanol.View full abstractDownload PDF (1108K) -
Tomokazu YOSHIDA, Hidehiro TAKAHASHI2008 Volume 70 Issue 2 Pages 127-135
Published: March 01, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: November 01, 2012
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSDue to previous studies on precision farming, it has become possible to obtain information on factors such as soil conditions, degrees of crop growth, or work load specific to a single field, as well as positional information on the field. In this study, we devised an information management method enabling the uniform handling of various data obtained from instruments for precision agriculture, and developed the “PFUManager”, information management software for farm work in which this method is implemented. The devised method is called “definition of data types”, configured with meta-information defining data types such as the names and units of information to be handled. This method facilitated the management of information obtained from various types of instruments for precision farming using this software only.View full abstractDownload PDF (11045K) -
A Chaff Exfoliation/Crushing ProsessorKazuto SHIGETA, Tamaki KIDA, Morinobu MATSUO2008 Volume 70 Issue 2 Pages 136-142
Published: March 01, 2008
Released on J-STAGE: November 01, 2012
JOURNAL FREE ACCESSTo reduce grain excretion-a serious problem when feeding milk and beef cattle whole crop rice silage-a rice silage crusher was developed that applies shearing forces to exfoliate chaff or crush paddy itself using two crushing rollers turning in opposite directions with V-shaped ditches around their surfaces. Using this system, the rice grain chaff exfoliation/crushing rate reached 80%, processing efficiency was 1.1t/h, and the power required could be reduced to 0.3 to 0.4kW with the rotating speed ratio between the two rollers set to 10% and the circumferential speed set to 0.2m/s.View full abstractDownload PDF (3490K)
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