HUMAN POWER

by

Engr. Alexis T. Belonio

Department of Agricultural Engineering and
Environmental Management
College of Agriculture
Central Philippine University
Iloilo City
atbelonio@yahoo.com
 Introduction
Human power has been utilized as source of
power since time immemorial.
Before the mechanization, human power is
utilized in various farm works such as land
preparation, seeding and planting, harvesting
and other processing operations.
At present human power is utilized in several
regions where labor is sufficient and
mechanization is not fully emphasized.
 Power Output
Human can develop a
total power of 0.5 hp
from the food he eats.
0.1 Hp is available for
useful work and the
remaining is use for body
functions.
Man at 20 years of age
can generate 15% more
power and less by 20%
at 60 years of age.
Man muscles can provide an overload
power of approx. 0.6 hp-min.
Man can generate useful power by
pedaling of about 0.27 to 0.53 hp.
Energy Requirement and
Efficiency
Minimum energy requirement is 2000
cal per day.
Conversion efficiency is 25%.
Working efficiency decreases under hot
and humid climate and effective to work
under normal condition.
 Power Formula
Pg = 0.35 – 0.092 log t

where:
Pg - generated power. Hp
t - time, min
 Example
A person is asked to do pumping of water for 4 hours.
Compute the power that can be generated by the
person.
Given: t – 4 hours

Required: power generated

Solution:
Pg = 0.35 – 0.092 log ( 4 hr x 60 min/hr)
= 0.35 – 0.092 log (240 min)
= 0.13 hp
 Advantage and
Disadvantages

Intelligence
z Decision making
z Manual dexterity
Low power available
z not competitive to animals
z no much to engine as source
of power
z not suitable as power source
for repetitive jobs
Human Power Consumption for
Various Farming Activities
Activity Gross Power (Watts)
Clearing bush and scrub 400 – 600
Felling trees 600
Hoeing 300-500
Ridging, deep digging 400-1000
Planting 200-300
Plowing with animal draft 350-550
Driving single axle tractors 350-650
Driving 4-wheel tractor 150-350
Driving car on farm 150
Some Field Operation Rates by
Farmers Using Hand-Tools
Operation Average Human Work
Rate (Man-days/ha)
Land Clearing 32.6
Ridging for Cassava 43.8
Mound Making for Yam 57.8
Cassava Planting 28.3
Yam Planting 28.3
Weeding Root Crops 36.7
Weeding, general 40.0
Cassava Harvesting 28.5
Yam Harvesting 32.0
Commonly Farm Jobs
Using Human Power
Operating engine, tractors, and self-
propelled machines
Manual operation of plows and harrow
pulled by draft animals
Seeding and planting operation
Spraying and weeding jobs
Harvesting using sickles
Cleaning of grains
Operating threshers and shellers
Sundrying of Crops
Handling of crops
Operating rice mills and other
processing equipment inside the plant
Operating pumps, irrigation equipment
and structures
Man-Hour Requirement per
Hectare of Various
Agricultural Operations
Operation Persons-hr/ha
Tillage with hoe 100-300
Water buffalo plowing flooded 30 – 60
soil
Water buffalo comb harrowing 40 – 60
5 hp power tiller plowing wet soil 20 –40
10 hp hydro tiller 4.4
Broadcasting 3.3
Hand weeding transplanted rice 120 - 320
Harvesting rice with sickle 60 –80
5 hp IRRI axial-flow thresher, 4 350 – 700 kg/hr
men feeding
 Formula
Number of Persons Needed

No of Persons = Man-hour per ha x No, of Hectares (ha)

x Operating time (hr)

Time to Finish Work

Time (hr) = No. of Persons / [Man-hour per ha

x No. of hectares (ha)]

Area Covered
No. of Hectares (ha) = No. of Persons / [Man-hour per ha
x Operating Time (hr)]
 Sample Problem
Ten hectare farm is to be planted with rice by broadcasting.
The owner of the farm wishes that his farm could be finished
within one day (8 hrs per day). How many people would be
required to do the job?

Given: Area of the farm - 10 hectares

Operating Time - one day @ 8 hours

Required: No. of persons to employ

Solution: No. of person = 3.3 person-hr/hac x 10 ha / 8 hours

= 4.1 persons use 5 person
There are 100 persons employed in
harvesting rice. They will be
harvesting a 2 hectare rice farm. If
they started harvesting 8 o’clock in
the morning, what time would they
finish the harvesting operation?

Given: No. of persons – 100

Area to be harvested - 2 hectares
Time started - 8 am
Required: Time to end harvesting
Solution :
No. of Hours = 60 man-hour/ha x 2 ha / 100 man
=
 Rest Period
Tr = 60 ( 1 – 250 / P )

where:
Tr - required rest period, min/hr
P - actual rate of energy consumption, watts
 Example
Find the rest period of a person doing a manual ridging
operation with gross power of 500 watts. If he works for 4
hours, determine the total time of rest needed by a person.

Given: Operation - manual ridging

Gross power - 500 watts
Total Work period - 4 hours

Required: Rest period in min/hr and total rest period in min

 Duration of Power
Output
0.16
P = (68 + 932 e – 0.908 t )
where:
P - physical power output, watts
t - duration of power output, seconds
e - 2.718
 References
Campbell, J. K. 1990. Dibble Sticks, donkey,
and diesels. Machines in Crop Production.
The International Rice Research Institute, Los
Banos, Laguna. 329pp.
Johnson, L. Power Requirements in Rice
production. The International Rice Research
Institute, Los Banos, Laguna. 29pp.
Stout, B.A.(ed). Plant Production
Engineering. CGIR Handbook of Agricultural
Engineering. Volume III. ASAE.
Thanks and God Bless !!!