Development and evaluation of an innovative grain cart with a pneumatic conveyor

Abstract

In line with the requirements of the Egyptian government to find a solution for wheat transportation during the peak harvesting season, an innovative design for a grain cart with a capacity of 8 tons supplemented with a grain hopper, a lifting double-action pneumatic conveyor, and a built-in digital scale was tested and evaluated to facilitate the transport of wheat crops from farmers' fields to storage sites. The cart was manufactured in the workshop of a local industrial company. It was tested under varying operational conditions in different wheat production areas in terms of working performance, efficiency of the grain loading and unloading mechanism, precision of the grain weighing mechanism, and cost/ton. The cart will enable wheat farmers and traders to transport and deliver their crops easily to storage sites with minimal losses and maximum working efficiency. It will also increase farmers’ profit because transportation cost by using this grain cart is less than that of the current conventional method. Moreover, the developed cart can secure wheat supply in government storage sites without any interruption during the peak wheat harvesting season.

Keywords

• Grain cart
• Transportation cost
• Performance test
• Manufacturing
• Innovation design