Experimental investigation of technical and operational indices of asymmetric swath reaper machine-and-tractor aggregate

Abstract

Asymmetric machine-and-tractor aggregates are often used for two-phase harvesting of cereals, when, at first, the cereals are in the phase of wax ripeness and they are mown into swaths, and then, as the mass dries out, reaching full maturity, they are threshed by combine harvesters. Such a method of harvesting cereals is very efficient in case the crops are wet and with an insufficiently even degree of maturity. A specificity of such trailed units is the presence of asymmetric tractive load upon the tractor, which causes unstable dynamics of the movement in a horizontal plane, a need to correct the direction of the movement, etc. The purpose of the investigation - to determine the optimal technical and operational indices of an asymmetric swath reaper machine-and-tractor aggregate according to the results of its field experimental research. Better quality of the operation of an improved swath reaper is ensured by the devices for setting its supporting wheels at an angle of 8ºto the direction of its movement. When using a more improved swath reaper, in contrast to the base variant, the productivity of the main time increases from 4.1 ha·h-1 to 4.34 ha·h-1, the specific fuel consumption - from 2.85 kg·ha-1 to 2.65 kg·ha-1, and the total loss of the loose grains and the grains in the cut ear - from 1.3 % to 0.2 %.