Results of laboratory and field studies of the separating system of a potato harvesting machine

The article describes a method for experimental studies of a separation system with thermal energy for cleaning a machine for harvesting root crops and potatoes under conditions of increased soil moisture up to 27%, represented by a rod elevator and a cleaning star. The self-propelled combine harvester VARITRON 470 is equipped with this system. When equipping it, a developed deflector system for supplying exhaust gases from the power plant to the rod elevator and cleaning star was used. Field research was carried out in the Penza region in the fields of the IP Bodyagin V.I. The research results allow us to assert the possibility of increasing the forward speed of a rod elevator as a result of improving the quality of cleaning of commercial products, eliminating the possibility of mechanical impurities sticking to the grate bars of a rod elevator. The main patterns of changes in the quality indicators of the developed separating system are determined, indicating that the completeness of separation of commercial products is 95.8% when finding the optimal values of the factors under consideration: the distance between the rod elevator and the deflector S_Д = 160 mm and the forward speed of the rod elevator v_Д = 1.6 m/s.