DESIGN OF A NEW POTATO COMBINE HARVESTER

Abstract

There are two ways to harvest potatoes. One is to harvest potatoes with a large potato combine harvester. The excavated potatoes are screened by one-and two-level screening and conveying devices, and then collected and conveyed by a collection device moving forward in parallel with the harvester, which is energy-intensive because the harvester is large. The other is to harvest potatoes with various small potato combine harvesters. Among them, the simplest one is a small potato combine harvester with only a one-level ordinary rod screening and conveying device. The excavated potatoes are simply screened only by a conveying screen running flatwise, and then directly fall on the ground for artificial collection, which is labor-intensive and inefficient. In view of the above problems, a small potato combine harvester with compact structure, high harvest efficiency and good potato quality was designed in this paper. The proposed harvester comprises a frame, a soil cutting plate, an excavation device, six levels of potato separation conveying devices, a potato collection device and a drive system. The one-level separation conveying device uses the quincunx-shaped vibrator to vibrate the potato soil mixture conveyed by the excavation device slightly at high frequency, which crushes large clods while keeping potatoes from rolling and colliding, reducing the damage of potatoes; the two-level separation conveying device uses the finger-shaped claw conveying device to break up small clods; the three-level separation conveying device has soil dumping function; the four-level separation conveying device uses a roller brush to brush off the soil attached to potato skins. The disk rotation shafts of the five-level separation conveying device make the potatoes roll forward to further remove the residual soil. The proposed harvester realizes automated potato excavation, separation, conveying and harvesting, and improves the potato harvest efficiency and quality. The results of this paper can provide some reference for the design and optimization of potato combine harvesters.