Comparative Study of Rape Straw Cutting with Two Drum Cutting Assemblies
HighlightsThis article presents test results of a new cutting drum design for an agricultural forage harvester.The energy consumption in the cutting process of rape decreased with increasing speed and cutting angle.Cutting the plant material layers with the new design of the cutting drum is more efficient and productive.Cross-cutting of plant material into chopped straw is an important alternative to the currently used cutting method.Abstract. A comparative study of the classic design and a new design for the drum cutting assembly of a chaff cutter was conducted to determine the performance characteristics of both designs when cutting rape straw into defined lengths. The new design of the cutting drum made oblique cutting possible, which was not possible with the classic design. For assessment of the cutting process, two indicators were used: the effectiveness of the cutting process, and the unit energy consumption during the cutting process. The experimental results showed that the new design of the cutting drum resulted in a considerable increase in the effectiveness of cutting plant material into pieces, as compared to the classic design. Keywords: Chaff cutter, Cutting drum, Cutting of material layers, Cutting process effectiveness, Plant material.