Study on cleaning and the residues in Thai rice combine harvester

Cleaning and the residues in rice combine harvester were studied. Interviewed data of 20 custom service rice combine harvesters and fi eld testing data of 6 rice combine harvesters were analyzed. The results showed that the custom service rice combine harvesters understand about problems and impact of the residues inside the rice combine harvester. Simple cleaning of rice combine harvester after complete harvesting for each farmer’s fi eld is common practice. The testing results showed that total of the residues were 31.4-58.0 kg. In the threshing unit was the highest amount of the residues (37.4%) followed by in cleaned paddy auger, unload grain auger, return for re-threshing auger, grain tank auger and area under feeding auger of the combine header were 31.4, 6.1, 4.5, 3.5 and 3.3% respectively. In other components, the residues were less than 3%. The mechanical devices for removing of the residues were already developed for all tested combine harvesters. But, solving of blocking inside of those components were the main purposes instead for cleaning. Therefore, easy cleaning system development of combine harvester is required for supporting of protection and reduction of rice variety contamination, distribution of weed and weedy rice.