ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS TO PREDICT EFFICIENCIES IN SEMI-MECHANIZED BEAN (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) HARVEST

Bean is among the most consumed and produced crops in Brazil. Given the high demand for food, the search for technologies and controllers to increase the efficiency of agricultural systems has grown. This study aimed to model artificial neural network (ANN) architectures to predict mechanical efficiencies in the semi-mechanized bean harvest. We used a multilayer perceptron network with three inputs (harvest moisture, threshing rotor rotation, and feed rate), two hidden layers of neurons, and one output (efficiency). We evaluated the efficiency in the header, separation on the threshing rotor, cleaning of sieves, and the total efficiency of the machine. ANN was processed by a scripted algorithm to model the network, alternate the number of neurons in hidden layers, as well as to select, test, and validate ANN with less error. ANN was validated by comparing its results with the experimental data. The architectures selected to predict efficiencies were 3-8-15-1 for the header, 3-9-7-1 for the thresher and separation, 3-5-11-1 for cleaning, and 3-15-10-1 for the total operation. ANN predicted satisfactory results with errors below 1% and a high hit rate, thus being valid to predict the efficiencies in the semi-mechanized bean harvest.