Experiments on stripping header for harvesting lodging super rice

Lodging is one of the common and serious problems in rice production, and especially leads to difficult for the mechanization harvesting and large threshing losses for pre-frost lodging super rice. To solve this kind of problems, a new stripping header with air suction was developed. With postharvest loss rate (scattering loss, loss of grain in straw and un-threshed loss) and recovery efficiency of grain as judging index and referential index respectively, single factor test and orthogonal test, which contained factors of feeding velocity, linear velocity of stripping rotor with triangle plate teeth, inlet opening size and air-flow velocity, were used to optimize the design and confirm the optimal combination of the key parameters of the header. Single factor test showed that the major factors affecting stripping header losses were the feeding velocity, linear velocity of stripping rotor, horizontal opening and air-flow velocity of feeding mouth. Furthermore, orthogonal experiment results showed that the best scheme was: the linear velocity of stripping rotor was 23 m/s, feeding speed was 0.9 m/s, inlet air-flow velocity was 14 m/s and inlet opening size was 100 mm, the postharvest loss rate was 1.52%. The experimental results indicate that the stripping header can meet the requirements of stripping harvest for lodging super rice, and can provide a basis for design of stripping header of stripper harvester for lodging super rice.