Design and experiment of disc-dig sugar beet combine

Abstract: The combine harvester is one of important tools for a sugar beet harvest. In order to solve time-consuming, tedious, and inefficient process in manual picking up of sugar beet by a traditional digger, and alleviate the shortage of sugar beet harvesting equipment, a disc-dig sugar beet combine harvester with medium horsepower tractors was designed based on the planting pattern and agronomic requirements, and the overall configuration and the structure of the main parts were described. The combine was composed of a rack, transmission system, guiding mechanism, digging device, conveying and cleaning device, hoisting equipment and driven system, et al. which enabled a one-stop achievement of sugar beet digging, conveying, removing soil and collecting. It effectively decreased the labor cost, simplified the commodity sugar beet processing links, and enhanced the efficiency of production. The driving system was configured in two independent ways, and equipped with a mechanical hydraulic control system, which improved the control accuracy and automation. With the hydraulic control system, the guiding mechanism reflected quickly and reduced the leakage (loss) of the sugar beet during harvesting. The disc digging component of the digging device reduced the excavated soil volume, improved the ability of breaking soil, and reduced the working resistance effectively. The throwing wheel moved sugar beet to the conveying and cleaning device, which was arranged behind the digging device. The hoisting equipment has a compact structure and good working reliability. Meanwhile, the web chain was composed of bending rods and bar rods, realized the chain jitter without source vibration, and reduced the transmission loss and the impurity of sugar beet. Field tests indicated that the rate of sticking to soil, the loss rate, the damage rate, the broken rate, and the impurity rate reached 0.8%, 4.5%, 2.4%, 1.6%, and 3.1%, respectively, which are in line with the sugar beet harvesting requirement. The results show that the developed harvester exhibits better performances and adaptation on the dry land. The further study will focus on the key parts parameters, in order to improve the applicability of the sugar beet harvester. This study can provide some references for the development and design of medium scale agricultural farming machinery based on the above parameter design, and at the same time, it can help to promote the development of sugar beet mechanization production, especially in China.