Energy demand of a forage chopper for cutting process of elephant grass

The aim of this study is to determine the energetic demand and the quality of chopped material from a stationary forage chopping machine, fed by diesel and electric motors, regarding the state of the knives sharpening, of the cutting size, and the rate of the machine feeding. The test was built following entirely randomize delineation with 5 repetitions. The tests revealed that the use of the unsharpened knife presented higher average values of potency demand and of specific consumption and lower average values of production capacity, as well as cutting quality inferior to the cut performed with the new knife. We concluded that the electric motor presented highest production capacity and lowest energy consumption. Sharpening of the knife may lead to better chopper performance