The Optimization of Cutter Feed Rate and Flatness of Wheat Stubbles for Combine Harvester

Reciprocating cutter is one of the most important parts of combine harvester. In the cutting process, the blades of cutter push the stalks to tilt, which contributes to the height of stubbles uneven. In order to make the stubbles flat by controlling the operating parameters such as vehicle speed, cutter crank rotational speed and feed rate (vehicle speed divided by cutter crank rotational speed), this article explored the relationship between operating parameters and the flatness of stubbles. Firstly, based on the analysis of cutting process, a flatness evaluation function was proposed to evaluate the flatness of wheat stubbles. The validity of the function was verified by experiments. In addition, the relationship between flatness evaluation function and operating parameters was studied. Moreover, flatness evaluation function was used to optimize the operating parameters to make the flatness of stubbles getting best. The experimental results implied that the theoretical calculation results were almost consistent with the experimental data. This paper can provide optimal feed rate for the control of reciprocating cutter to make the wheat stubbles flattest.