Abstract
The rates of maize breakage and entrainment loss are high in the harvest of high-moisture maize, which remains an issue with the development of agricultural mechanization. In order to reduce the maize breakage and entrainment loss rates, the correlations among key factors, such as the threshing cylinder speed, concave clearance and feeding rate, and the rates of breakage and entrainment loss during high-moisture maize harvesting were studied in this paper. A single-factor experiment was carried out using a single-longitudinal-axial flow maize harvester, and an orthogonal experiment was carried out using single- and double-longitudinal-axial flow maize harvesters with the Taguchi experimental design method. The single-factor experiment revealed that when the cylinder speed increased, the breakage rate of maize decreased first and then increased, while the entrainment loss rate decreased. The breakage rate of maize decreased as the concave clearance increased, while the entrainment loss rate decreased first and then increased. The optimum value of the concave clearance was positively correlated with the ear diameter of maize; Additionally, the minimum breakage rate of maize occurred when the feeding rate was at the rated value, and the entrainment loss rate increased as the feeding rate increased. The orthogonal experiments revealed that the importance of cylinder speed, feeding rate, concave clearance on the maize breakage and entrainment loss rates were in descending order. The optimum values of parameters for the single-longitudinal-axial flow maize harvester were 370 r/min cylinder speed, 40 mm concave clearance and 10 kg/s feeding rate. The optimum values of parameters the double-longitudinal-axial flow maize harvester were 550 r/min cylinder speed, 35 mm concave clearance and 10 kg/s feeding rate. The research can provide a reference for parameter configuration and control strategy for the longitudinal-axial flow maize harvester with high-moisture maize. Keywords: high-moisture maize, maize harvester, parameter configuration, Taguchi experiment DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20201305.5653 Citation: Zhu X L, Chi R J, Du Y F, Qin J H, Xiong Z X, Zhang W T, et al. Experimental study on the key factors of low-loss threshing of high-moisture maize. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2020; 13(5): 23–31.
Highlights
Maize is currently the world’s highest-yielding food crop, occupying only less acreage than wheat and rice[1]
As a result of single-factor and orthogonal experiments, the following conclusions were drawn: 1) For the single-longitudinal-axial flow maize harvester, the maize breakage rate decreased at first and increased as the cylinder speed increased, while the entrainment loss rate decreased as the cylinder speed increased
When the cylinder speed was over 400 r/min, the entrainment loss rate was almost constant
Summary
Maize is currently the world’s highest-yielding food crop, occupying only less acreage than wheat and rice[1]. According to China’s statistics bureau, in 2017, maize was the crop with the largest planted area in China, but there was less mechanized harvesting of maize than that of wheat and rice[2]. This gap exists mostly because maize is damaged during mechanized harvesting[3,4,5,6,7]. China has gradually adopts the direct maize-threshing harvesting method; most of the maize-growing areas in China, especially in the Huang-Huai-Hai Region, are planted with winter wheat and summer maize. To adapt to high-moisture maize during harvesting, the development of a low-damage threshing technology is urgently needed in China[18,19]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
