DESIGN AND EXPERIMENT OF ECCENTRIC SWING COMBING DEVICE FOR CERASUS HUMILIS

Abstract

An eccentric swing combing device was designed on the basis of the growth characteristics of Cerasus humilis in mature stage in this work to improve the removal rate and reduce the damage rate. The device adopted a swing mechanism to realize comb rod entry from the roots of branches and an eccentric mechanism to realize horizontal combing. The kinematic equation and the main affecting factors of the combing effect were obtained through the kinematic and dynamic analyses of the combing device. Rotation speed, feeding speed, and comb swing angle were considered the influencing factors, and removal and damage rates were taken as the evaluation indexes. We conducted an experiment of quadratic orthogonal rotation centre combination with three factors and five levels on the combing device. Results showed that the contribution rate of each factor to the removal and damage rates was in the order of feeding speed, rotation speed and comb swing angle. The best combination of parameters was obtained as follows: rotating speed of 11.26 r/min, feeding speed of 0.227 m/s, and comb swing angle of 5°. The removal and damage rates were 95.21% and 4.56%, respectively, under this parameter combination. The relative error with the predicted result was less than 5%. This study can effectively improve the effect of C. humilis fruit removal and provide reference for further design of C. humilis harvesting machinery.