Design and Optimization of Test Bench for Studying Mechanism of Loss Reduction in Potato Harvesting

Abstract:

Aiming to deeply study the working mechanism and the technical approaches for improving the working quality of the potato soil separation device during harvesting, and solve the problems of high injury rate and skin breakage rate, low efficiency and inconvenient data collection in field tests of potato harvesting machinery, a potato harvesting loss reduction rule test bench was designed. The test bench mainly consisted of a separation device, a vibration frequency adjustment device, an amplitude adjustment device, an angle adjustment device, a material monitoring device, and a full-angle observation device. The test bench adopted a visual design, allowing for all-round observation of the separation process. Through theoretical analysis, a dynamic model of the potato-soil mixture during the conveying and separation process was established. High-speed photography technology was used to analyze the occurrence and evolution of mechanical behaviors such as potatosoil collision, rolling backflow, and rupture. Through curve fitting, the velocity and acceleration curves of the potato-soil mixture were obtained. Through singlefactor experiments, the influence intervals of the main working parameters, including linear velocity, device angle, vibration frequency, and amplitude, were clarified. Response surface experiments were conducted to find the optimal working parameters. The results showed that when the linear velocity was 1.2m/s, the device angle was 20°, the vibration frequency was 12.5Hz, and the amplitude was 50mm, the injury rate of potatoes was 0.81%, the skin breakage rate was 1.36%, and the impurity rate was 2.256%. All working indicators met the requirements of potato mechanical harvesting operations, providing theoretical basis and technical support for the design and optimization of low-loss and high-efficiency potato harvesting equipment.