Experimental Study on Picking Unit Parameters of Brush-rolling Cotton Harvester

¹ School of Mechanical Engineering, Nanjing Institute of Technology, Nanjing, 211167, China
² Nanjing Research Institute of Agricultural Mechanization, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Nanjing, 210014, China

^* Corresponding author: msc82915@126.com

Abstract

In order to find the optimal combination of the picking unit parameters of the brush-rolling cotton harvester, the parameters optimization experiment were carried out. Taking the rotary speed of brush roller, the working velocity, and the number of brush plates as the experimental factors, the collect rate and the loss rate of struck cotton as the performance evaluation indexes, the quadratic regression orthogonal rotational combing design experiment was carried out. The Central Composite Design response surface method was used to establish the regression model of experimental factors and evaluation indexes, and analyze the influence of each factor on evaluation indexes. Using multi-objective optimization, the optimal parameter combination is as follows: the rotary speed of the brush roller is 350 r/min, the working velocity is 0.5 m/s, the number of brush plates is 6 rows. After the optimization test, the collect rate is 95.58%, and the loss rate of struck cotton is 1.22%. The field verification test shows that the collect rate of 4MSG-3 brush-rolling cotton harvester is 92.86%, and the loss rate of struck cotton is 1.26%. The relative error between verification test results and parameter optimization value is less than 5%, which verifies the reliability of the regression model. This study provides a theoretical basis for optimizing and improving the picking unit’s parameters of the brush-rolling cotton harvester.