Technology and parameters of cabbage machine harvesting by careful stacking of heads in containers

Abstract

The most important issue when developing the machine technology of cabbage harvesting is to protect the heads from mechanical damage. In this regard, the article describes a new technology for harvesting cabbage based on a prototype developed by the authors of a multivariate cabbage harvester. This technology of cabbage machine harvesting differs from the known gentle mode of stacking heads in containers on a low-frame trailer accompanying the harvesting unit. The authors first simulated the workflow of this technology using the queuing theory. As a result, a quantitative relationship between the performance indicators of the cabbage harvesting process and the structural and technological parameters of the machine in the studied variant was established. On its basis, rational values of parameters of the machine were defined: the number of jobs at the completion table, the longitudinal conveyor and on the site of the low-frame trailer, respectively, n₁ = 2, n₂ = 4, and n₃ = 4; the length of the conveyor-cutter and the longitudinal conveyor, respectively, was 2.8 and 4 m.