Energy of soil clod crushing with a separating working tool, depending on physical and mechanical properties of the soil

To reduce the content of soil impurities and minimize damage to potato tubers during harvesting, it is necessary to study the composition of the separated pile of market tubers and determine the energy of soil clod crushing. In order to identify the regularities of physical and mechanical properties of soil clods interacting with the separating working tool, the authors experimentally studied the crushing of soil clods. The crushing energy of leached chernozem soil clods with a density between 1300 and 1700 kg/m³ was determined for samples of 5 cm in size at a soil moisture of 10 to 30%. The authors used a laboratory installation with a separating rod elevator to determine the influence of the apron (the shaking frequency of the separation intensifiers) on the amount of 5-cm soil fractions formed. It was experimentally found that the material balance for separating units of potato harvesters of primary and secondary cleaning is determined by the mass of tubers fed to the separating tool and the amount of mass removed from the separating tool. The amount of mass removed from the separating tool is a stationary function of the vibration frequency of the bar elevator and the amount of product on it. The authors have developed a research methodology to determine the energy of soil clod crushing using soil sample preparation. The authors have conducted experimental studies to determine soil clod crushing energy when interacting with an absolutely solid body. It has been found that an increase in soil moisture from 10 to 30% results in an increase in the energy of soil clod crushing of 6249.18 to 10118.5 J/m³. When the soil moisture exceeds 25%, the maximum height of soil clod crushing increases proportionally up to 60.2 cm. The empirical dependence of soil clod crushing energy on the varying moisture content has been established. The research results are useful for selecting the optimal vibration frequency of the bar elevator, based on the soil moisture index, and for achieving high quality of separation.

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