Analysis of minimum amplitude points and optimization of connection position for header of micro grain combine

Abstract: This paper was aimed to reduce the vibration energy transitivity form the cutting table of the combine harvester to combine. In this paper, the 4 L-0.2 micro combine harvester was chosen as the object, the structure of the machine and the characteristics of the header were analyzed, and the minimum vibration amplitude point of the cutting table was found by using the minimum amplitude point method. Then the finite element modal analysis of the cutting table was carried out by using the modal analysis software Workbench, and the first four order modal frequencies and shapes were obtained, which were also acquired through the modal experiment of the cutting table. The experiment result was proved to be believable by comparison with the finite element modal analysis result. Three different experiments were performed, which included the preliminary experiment, the single-frequency excitation experiment and the verification experiment. In the preliminary experiment, the motor was used to provide the power which was used to drive the cutter installed on the cutting table to reciprocate; the preliminary experiment was done under the condition of low frequency, and 3 different frequencies, which had significant influence on the vibration amplitude of the points, were obtained, which were 5, 10 and 15 Hz respectively. The single- frequency experiments were done on the base of these 3 frequencies. In the single-frequency experiment, a small area that contained the positions of the first four order modal node of the experiment mode was divided out from the experimental area on the cutting table. Some points were randomly chosen in the small area, and the exciter was used to force the cutting table to vibrate. The values of vibration amplitude of the points chosen were obtained, and they were imported into the MATLAB together with the coordinate values of the points. The least square method was used to obtain the fitting curve, which illustrated the relationship between the coordinate value and the value of vibration amplitude of the points. The points that had the minimum value of vibration amplitude were found at each frequency. According to the vibration theory, it could be seen that the value of the vibration amplitude in the time domain was the superimposition of the value of amplitude of each frequency. The weighting factors corresponding to the 3 frequencies were obtained, which were 0.54, 0.3 and 0.16 respectively according to the relationship between the 3 different frequencies obtained from the preliminary experiment. The positions of the points that had the minimum vibration amplitude could be calculated with this set of weighting factors. In the verification experiment, the motor was used to provide the power for driving the cutter installed on the cutting table to reciprocate. The experimental data were calculated and the experimental result was consistent with that of the finite element analysis, and the positions of the points that had the minimum value of the vibration amplitude were obtained, which weighted average magnitude for the region (29.707 m/s2) 89.29%, the maximum amplitude point amplitude (35.044 m/s2) 74.92%. At the end, the optimization scheme which provided the best position for the installation of the cutting table was put forward according to the result. After changing the connection point, the cutting table's structure was analyzed, and the results showed that the structural strength of the cutting table met the requirements.