Avaliação das perdas na colheita de cana-de-açúcar e demanda de potência de uma colhedora de cana inteira.

Abstract

In Brazil, the sugar cane croup represents about 8 % of PIB, with a production of about 318 million of tons in 2005. The most of the part of sugar cane in the country is harvested by mechanical way. However, the wastes in mechanical harvest are approximately 15% of all the harvested sugar cane. The objective of this work is evaluate the Artiole harvester wastes and to determine power demand of equipment. The experiments were made using a Artiole harvester and a Valmet 118-4 tractor for equipment traction. The results were determined using Neves (2003) methodology. The harvester had a waste of about 7,7% in the operation and about 29% of waste, considering the wastes caused by transport and overflow mechanisms. The 1 M gear showed a lower power demand in the operation comparing it with the 3 M gear.