Abstract
The potato-soil separation device comprising five function areas (i.e., shearing, bending, throwing, cleaning, and conveying) was developed to address the mentioned problems (e.g., soil with high moisture content, large viscosity, and poor separation efficacy) in the harvesting process for winter idle paddy fields of Southern China. Given the kinetic analyses for the potato-soil mixture of five function areas, the crucial factors of the effect of potato-soil separation were determined. Subsequently, the orthogonal test of 4 factors and 3 levels was performed, and the percentage of small soil λ, the percentage of soil adhering to potato tuber γ, and damage rate of potato tuber K were adopted as assessment indexes. Regression analyses and programming for the orthogonal test result were conducted to optimize the device run parameters, and the optimal run parameters included the rotational speed of the soil-crushing mechanism of 84.18 r/min, linear velocity of second-stage lifting chain of 0.75 m/s, and inclination angle of lifting chain of 15.87°. The field experiments were performed with the modified potato harvester. As indicated from the result, the visible potato rate was 94.31% and damage rate of potato was 0.89%, and the requirement of the national standard was satisfied. This study presented technical feasibility data and equipment for potato-soil separation under sticky soils condition.
Highlights
To cultivate potatoes in winter-fallowed paddy fields of Southern China, the arable land required does not compete with other crops, thereby elevating land use rates and creating vast economic benefits [1]
Numerous research have been done on the innovative design of the separation mechanism, such as swing sieve [14,15,16], lifting chain [13,17,18,19], rotating disc [20,21], and different types of separation mechanisms are suitable for different soil conditions
To improve visible potato rate, a cross rotating agitator was installed at the lifting chain, so that the process of separating the potato-soil mixture is improved [23]; in addition, in order to effectively break the soil, a finger wheel type rubber roller was applied to the back of the digging shovel, which accelerated the breaking of the potato-soil mixture through the rotating strike of the finger [24]
Summary
To cultivate potatoes in winter-fallowed paddy fields of Southern China, the arable land required does not compete with other crops, thereby elevating land use rates and creating vast economic benefits [1]. The length [14,25], shape [17], inclination angle, spacing between chain rods [26,27] and arrangement of lifting chain directions [28,29] were considered to have an effect on the separation performance. There were some studies that showed that a new type of lifting chain under the condition of heavy soil had the best harvesting effect when the length of the lifting chain was 3.1 m, the linear speed of the lifting chain was 1.5 m/s, and the forward speed of the machine was 1.2 m/s [22]; a multi-stage separation buffer potato harvester achieved the visible potato rate of 99.1% by selecting a working speed of 1.05 m/s, a digging depth of 180 mm, and a screen inclination angle of 22◦ [27]. The α and v3 are the structure and operating parameters of the lifting chain, respectively
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