ANALYSIS OF DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF FUNCTIONING OF CHICORY ROOT DIGGERS

An analysis of the design features and technological processes of the functioning of working bodies intended for digging chicory root crops is given. Based on the identification of structural models of digging working bodies, a classification of root crop diggers was developed according to the accepted systematization criteria. Among many types of industrial crops, including root crops, only root chicory ensures the production of strategic raw materials from which, in the process of its processing, the raw product of processing inulin is obtained, from which an important medicinal product - insulin is subsequently produced. The existing technical means of harvesting chicory roots do not provide the necessary indicators of the quality of digging root crops according to the agrotechnical requirements for root harvesting machines. At the same time, the average rate of loss of root crops is 3.5...7.5%, depending on the harvesting conditions, and damage to chicory roots exceeds 2.5...3.5 times the value of the index of agrotechnical requirements. The characteristic structural and technological shortcomings of the main existing types of excavating working bodies are analyzed. The main trends in the development of disc diggers and directions for improvement of combined digging systems of chicory root crops using a spherical disc are substantiated. The reduction of losses of root crops and their damage is ensured by the use of a combined single-disk spherical digger, which combines a spherical disk and a loosener placed behind it and in the area of its action, installed on the riser of the disk. The obtained research results are a partial addition to the existing method of further calculation and substantiation of the rational parameters of the spherical disc and the technological parameters of the working processes of root harvesting machines.