UNIT 2: PRIME MOVERS IN THE

AGRICULTURAL AND BIO-PRODUCTION

SYSTEMS

SOURCES OF
POWER IN THE
FARM

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 FARM POWER
Farm is an area or piece of land
that is primarily devoted for
agriculture purposes and the use
of technology on this land is
called as farm power.

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 FARM POWER
A farm power for various agricultural operations can
be broadly classified as:
(1) Tractive work such as seed bed preparation,
cultivation, harvesting and transportation, and
(2) Stationary work like silage cutting, feed grinding,
threshing, winnowing and lifting of irrigation water.

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 DIFFERENT SOURCE OF FARM POWER
1. Human Power 4. Electric Power
2. Animal Power 5. Renewable Energy (Biogas + Solar +
3. Mechanical Power Wind)
a.) Tractor
b.) Power Tillers
c.) Self propelled
combines
d.) Oil engines
- diesel engine
-Petrol/Kerosene
engine
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 HUMAN POWER
Is an important source for
operating small implements and
tools.

5
 HUMAN POWER
Stationary work like chaff cutting,
lifting water, threshing, winnowing
and many other such works are done
by manual labour.

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 HUMAN POWER
On an average a man can develop
maximum power of about 75
watts or 0.1 hp for doing work. In
some instances manual labor is
still more efficient than machine.

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 HUMAN POWER
Advantages: Easily available and used for all
types of work.
Disadvantages: Costliest power compared to
all other farms of power, very low efficiency,
requires full maintenance when not in use and
affected by weather condition and seasons

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 ANIMAL POWER
Land preparation, weed management,
crop threshing and transport are
undertaken using animal power. Oxen,
buffalo, horses, mule, donkey and
camel are used as animal power in
agriculture for various purposes. They
can generate about 750 watts or 1hp
for doing farm work.
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ANIMAL POWER

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 ANIMAL POWER
Advantages: Easily available, Used for all types
of work, Low initial investment, Supplies
manure to the field and fuels to farmers and Live
on farm produce.
Disadvantages: Not very efficient, Seasons and
weather affect the efficiency, Cannot work at a
stretch, animals need feeding and protection
against pests and disease, slow, required training

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 MECHANICAL
POWER
The third important source of farm power is
mechanical power that is available through
tractors and oil engines. The oil engine is a
highly efficient device for converting fuel into
useful work.\ The efficiency of diesel engine
varies between 32 and 38 per cent, whereas
that of petrol engine varies from 25 to 32
percent. Diesel engines of larger size are used
on tractors.
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MECHANICAL
POWER

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 MECHANICAL
POWER
> They are used for pumping water,
flour mills, chaff cutter, threshing,
harvesting, tillage, winnowing, seeing,
etc.…

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 MECHANICAL
POWER
> Advantages: Efficiency is high; not
affected by weather; can run at a
stretch; requires less space and cheaper
form of power.
> Disadvantages: Initial capital
investment is high; fuel is costly and
repairs and maintenance needs
technical knowledge.15
 ELECTRIC POWER
> Has become a very important source of
power on farms. The largest use of
electric power in the rural areas is for
irrigation and domestic water supply.
> Used of electricity in dairy milk, cold
storage, fruit processing and cattle feed
grinding has tremendously increased.

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 ELECTRIC POWER
Its operation and maintenance needs less
attention and care. It is clean quiet and
smooth running.
Electrical power is used for water pumping,
dairy industry, cold storage, farm product
processing, fruit industry, poultry industry,
seed treatment, etc.

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 ELECTRIC POWER
Advantages: Very cheap form of power; high
efficiency; can work at a stretch; maintenance
and operating cost is very low and not affected
by weather conditions.
Disadvantages: Initial capital investment is high;
require good amount of technical knowledge and
it causes great danger, if handled without care.

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 RENEWABLE
ENERGY
WIND POWER
- The availability of wind power is quite limited.
Where the wind velocity is more than 32 kmph,
wind mills can be used for lifting water. A wind
mill having 3.6 diameter wheel mounted on 12.0 m
tower is able to produce from 0.1 to 0.9 hp with the
wind velocity varying from 6.4 to 37 km/h. Thus
the average capacity of a wind mill would be about
0.50 hp.
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WIND POWER
Wind power can pro- vide an
important economic boost to
farmers. Large wind turbines
typically use less than half an acre
of land, includ- ing access roads,
so farmers can continue to plant
crops and graze livestock right up
to the base of the turbines.

Animation Video

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 RENEWABLE
ENERGY
SOLAR ENERGY
-Sun is the biggest fusion reactor which radiates
energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation. To
obtain solar radiation a dark surface is exposed to
it so that radiation can be absorbed. Solar energy
can be used for water heating, space heating,
refrigeration, distillation, cooking and power
generation. (Animation Video)

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RENEWABLE
ENERGY

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 RENEWABLE
ENERGY
GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
- Heat and electricity production.
- Water and/or steam carry the
geothermal energy to the Earth's
surface.
- It can be used for heating and
cooling purposes or be harnessed to
generate clean electricity.
How Geothermal Energy Work?

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 RENEWABLE
ENERGY
HYDROPOWER
Hydropower (from Greek: ὕδωρ,
"water"), also known as water
power, is the use of falling or fast-
running water to produce
electricity or to power machines.
This is achieved by converting the
gravitational potential or kinetic
energy of a water source to produce
power. (Animation video)

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 RENEWABLE
ENERGY
BIOMAS ENERGY
 Biomass energy is energy
generated or produced by
living or once-living
organisms.
 The most common biomass
materials used for energy are
plants, such as corn and soy,
above.
 The energy from these
organisms can be burned to
create heat or converted into25