Optimizing Fuel Consumption and Knife Wear in a Self-Propelled Forage Chopper by Improving the Grinding Strategy

Abstract

A Claas 950 self-propelled forage chopper was equipped with a data acquisition system for measuring fuel consumption, speed, field slope, and harvesting time and operated on a large farm near Dresden. Knife grinding and clearance adjustment were recorded. The wear of the knives was manually measured with a dental molding compound and digital microscopes. The throughput and moisture and sand contents of the chopped maize (corn) forage were determined by manually sampling and laboratory testing each harvested wagon or truck load. The results show that fuel consumption is negatively linearly correlated to forage material flowrate. Comparisons of chopper operator surveys with studies of the knives on this project indicate that the intervals between sharpenings should be longer and the intensity of sharpening (number of grinding passes) should be reduced. For example, up to 50 hectares could be chopped without grinding and without a significant increase in fuel consumption or loss in chopping quality on the test machine.