Experimental Design and Validation of an Adjustable Straw Guide Structure for a Grain Combine Harvester Thresher Based on a Material Movement Model

Abstract

The threshing device is the core component of the grain combine harvester, and the straw guide board plays an important role in the threshing device. In the past, the guiding structure of the threshing device could not optimize the working performance of the machine by adjusting the spiral angle. In this study, an adjustable straw guide board was designed, and the movement model of the straw on the straw guide board was analyzed. The response surface method was used to perform field experiments, and the experimental data were analyzed using quadratic polynomial regression. The results show that the drum rotation speed, operating speed, and spiral angle of the straw guide board have significant effects on the percentage of loss rate (PLR), percentage of impurities rate (PIR), and percentage of broken rate (PBR). Further optimization analysis showed that the predicted values of the PLR, PIR, and PBR were 1.18%, 0.72%, and 0.54%, respectively, whereas the experimental verification values were 1.26%, 0.73%, and 0.61%, respectively. The absolute errors between the experimental and predicted values were very small; however, the optimized field test verified values decreased by 8.31%, 50.04%, and 60.30%, respectively, which indicates that the optimized harvester had better operation quality.