Vibration Analysis of a Roller Bearing Condition Used in a Tangential Threshing Drum of a Combine Harvester for the Smooth and Continuous Performance of Agricultural Crop Harvesting

Abstract

Testing the reliability of the threshing unit is difficult and thus often neglected before the harvesting season, which can result in breakdown maintenance during peak harvesting time in difficult-to-access areas for sensor mounting. In this paper, the vibration analysis of the threshing condition of the combine harvester was performed by introducing the bracket for inaccessible locations. The Adash A4900 Vibrio M analyzer (Adash spol. s.r.o., Ostrava, Czech Republic) was used for a vibration signal measurement and the DDS Adash software was used for signal processing. The demodulated fast Fourier transform (FFT) root mean square (RMS) (500 Hz–16 kHz) method was used to evaluate the bearing condition and DDS Adash Fault Source Identification Tool (FASIT) technology was used to evaluate other mechanical conditions such as the looseness, misalignment, and unbalance of the threshing unit of the Massey Ferguson series of combine harvesters. Modal and random vibration analyses were performed on the bracket and components and compared to prevent the resonance phenomenon using the Ansys Software (Ansys, Inc., Canonsburg, PA, USA). The constrained modal analysis of the threshing drum was performed to observe the deformation. Decent results were obtained from the method used. The method was again validated by the tangential threshing test bench and successfully determined the bearing fault condition. The method used is an uncomplicated and effective way of performing the bearing analysis of the tangential unit of the combine harvester.