Theory of Movement of the Sugar Beet Tops in Loading Mechanism, Taking into Account the Influence of the Air Flow

Abstract

A new design of the haulm harvester with an improved loading mechanism has been developed, which is made in the form of a centrifugal thrower that receives the entire volume of the cut sugar beet tops, as well as an unloading pipe, the end of which is at the level of the vehicle, moving beside the haulm harvester. To substantiate the rational parameters of this loading device, a mathematical model of the movement of a particle along the thrower blade and its exit from the blade was developed in order to simulate further movement along the inner surface of the cylindrical part of the casing and its straight part before entering the vehicle. The resulting differential equation for the movement of a haulm particle along the thrower blade takes into account the influence of the airflow created by the rotation of the thrower, the blades of which capture and accelerate the air in the closed space of the cylindrical casing. The indicated differential equation includes the basic design, kinematic, and power parameters affecting the flow of the studied loading process of the tops. The solution of these differential equations on a PC made it possible to obtain graphic dependencies, with the help of which the rational parameters of the working bodies of the loading mechanism of the haulm harvester were substantiated. As calculations show, an increase in the angular velocity of rotation of the thrower and the length of its blade leads to an increase in the absolute velocity of the haulm particle M from the end of the blade. Thus, by increasing the length of the thrower blade from 0.1 m to 0.35 m and its angular velocity from 10 s−1 to 40 s−1, the absolute velocity increases from 1.2 m s−1 to 16 m s−1. At an angular speed of rotation of the thrower equal to 10 s−1, an increase in the airflow velocity from 5 to 35 m s−1 leads to a smooth linear increase in the relative velocity of particle M, as it moves along the blade of 0.67 to 0.78 m s−1. For a higher angular velocity of rotation of the thrower, equal to 20 s−1, the growth curve of the relative velocity of particle M is more intense at an airflow velocity in the range from 5 to 25 m s−1, approaching the linear law at an airflow velocity of more than 25 m s−1. In this case, the relative velocity varies from 0.9 to 1.4 m s−1.