Abstract:Aiming to address the problem of plastic-film lifting caused by strong winds after mulching on high ridges in hilly areas, a covering soil on plastic-film device was designed according to the agronomic requirements of high ridge mulching. Based on the generating principle of the Archimedean spiral line on a truncated cone, a spiral blade of the overlying drum was designed. The dynamics of soil movement within the drum were analyzed to determine the main factors affecting the soil pile mass and the soil pile convergence value. Using EDEM, a simulation model of the interaction between the covering device and soil was established. Taking the spiral end angle, forward velocity, and circumferential angle corresponding to the soil discharge port as experimental factors, the soil pile mass and soil convergence value as evaluation indices, single-factor and three-factor three-level orthogonal experiments were carried out to determine the factor ranges and establish a response surface model. The orthogonal test results showed that the spiral end angle and forward velocity had a highly significant effect on the soil pile mass, while the forward velocity and circumferential angle corresponding to the soil discharge port had a highly significant effect on the soil pile convergence value. The optimal operating parameters were determined as follows: spiral end angle was 57.44°, forward velocity was 3.82 km/h, and circumferential angle corresponding to the soil discharge port was 32.02°. A prototype was manufactured based on the optimized parameters, and field experiment was conducted. The field experiment results showed that the soil pile mass on the film was 545.2 g, the lighting-struck ratio of the plastic-film was 72.25%, the soil wide on film side was 90.2 mm, and the soil depth on film side was 35.7 mm, all meeting the agronomic requirements of film mulching and covering soil on plastic-film for high ridge in hilly areas.
