Friction and wear behaviors of driving rope wheel system in the traction type mountain orchard transporter

Abstract: A system of driving rope wheel is the main driving part of a traction-type transporter for mountainous orchards. Specifically, a steel wire rope is winded alternately on two fixed multi-groove wheels in turn, and then the rope is tensioned after connecting into a closed loop in the system of driving rope wheel for the traction-type transporter. One multi groove wheel is connected with the power source, and another is fixed independently to the bodies which define the frame of a transporter. As such, the system of the driving rope wheel can provide the driving force for the orchard transporter, with a large working load, long working time, and serious wear. In this study, a systematic investigation was made to analyze the influence of variable factors on the tribological behavior at the dual contact region between a wire rope and pulley, in order to explore the friction and wear mechanism of a driving rope wheel system. A dynamic contact model of a rope and friction pulley was established using an ADAMS platform, where a series of comparative models were obtained by tailoring the parameters of each factor. A bench test was also carried out to verify the effectiveness of the mathematical model and numerical simulation of a driving rope wheel system. A tension sensor, electronic balance, and three-dimensional microscope system were used to quantify the force of steel wire rope, the wear amount, and wear morphology of multi-groove wheels. The simulation results showed that the complete winding can bear most of the friction force during contact. Starting from the load end of the connection, the friction force on the grooves at each complete winding circle decreased along the steel wire rope direction. The wear morphology of multi-groove wheels showed that the friction force of each groove also decreased along the direction of steel wire rope, where the failure mode of the groove was plastic deformation and wear mode. The number of winding circle increased from 2/3 to 4/5, compared with the calculation of the model. The friction force at the maximum stress decreased by 48.66%, and the mean square deviation of forces on each groove was reduced from 102.97 N to 46.53 N, indicating the force was more balanced in the system of the driving rope wheel. The smaller the center distance or the larger the diameter of the two grooved wheels was, the more balanced the stress on the grooves of each complete winding circle was. There was a very small influence of slot distance and dip angle of slot wall on friction behavior. The wear rate analysis of multi-groove wheels showed that the larger center distance, smaller preload and more complete circles can effectively alleviate the wear of the wire rope and friction pulley. The findings can provide a promising reference for the subsequent optimization of the driving rope wheel system in a traction-type transporter for mountainous orchards.