Design and test of clamping and conveying device for recycling agricultural residual plastic film

Abstract: The machines currently used to recycle residual plastic film operate by picking up the plastic film using an arc-shaped spring-finger and removing the plastic film with a rotary roller. This method is problematic because it has a lower recycling rate. The film is also easily to wind around the operating parts of the mechanism which would lead the film to be difficult to remove. According to the characteristics of film, a clamping and conveying device for removing agricultural residual plastic film pneumatically has been designed. The device is mainly composed of a film-pickup mechanism, a clamping-conveying mechanism and a film pneumatic removal mechanism. The structure, dimensions and the operating parameters of these mechanisms were determined through discussion and analysis. The materials of the scraper and the conveying belt were determined. The position of the scraper component relative to the conveying belts was also obtained by calculation. The process of picking up the film and raising it with a shovel was analyzed. The pressure force acting on the clamped film (applied by one of the scrapers) was theoretically analyzed and tested. In order to convey the agricultural residual plastic film (ARPF), it was found that the minimum clamping force was 4.58 N. Field experiments showed that the film could be scooped up from the ground with shovels and successfully fed into the clamping-conveying mechanism. The film could be clamped stably throughout the film conveying process and removed smoothly by the pneumatic removal mechanism, which prevented the film from adhering to, or winding around, the parts of the mechanism. When the operating speed of prototype was 5-5.5 km/h, the results of the field experiment indicated that the average recycling rate of the ARPF was 92.5% and the average removal rate of the ARPF reached 97.8%. The results of this research may provide references for the development of new machines to recycle residual plastic film.