Load Characteristies of a Two-Cylindered Rice Combine (I)

Abstract

The authors reconstructed the driving system of a two-cylindered rice combine, with which to investigate the power requirements and load characteristics of the main functional elements of the machine (engine output, travelling unit, harvesting units (header unit, threshing unit and cleaning unit)).
The torque fluctuation of 6 shafts was senced by strain gauges and registered by direct-visual oscillograph and line printer (through digital volt meter) connected in parallel. The speed of the shafts was measured by means of direct current tachogenerators, and also registered by oscillograph and line printer.
In laboratory we conducted no-load measurements and stationary tests of harvesting units, for which stored dry rice crop was feeded. Field tests were carried out in 1966 and 1967 on rice and travelling conditions. The test results have shown:
1) The total average power requirements of a combine as a whole are described as a sum of average power requirements of travelling unit and that of harvesting units, which are governed by travelling speed of the machine and straw throughput respectively. If travelling speed, variety of crop and straw throughput are arbitrarily given, the total average power requirements and the distribution of power are estimated by means of graphs obtained from field measurements.
2) Analyses of torque fluctuation of the cylinder shaft from various point of view (torque frequency, time ratio, autocorrelation coefficient, power spectral density) have given practical data' which may be useful for the study of automatic control of the load on combine-harvesters.