Design and experiment of lateral and foldable rapeseed stalks harvester

<bold>Objective</bold> As an important part of the industrialization of rapeseed，rapeseed stalk has a fresh and refreshing taste and is rich in vitamin C and other trace elements，which can be used as a stem and leaf vegetable.In order to solve the problems of high labor intensity and low operational efficiency in manual harvesting of rapeseed stalks，a side mounted foldable rapeseed stalks harvester was designed According to the planting mode，growth characteristics and harvesting requirements of rape stem. <bold>Method</bold> The rapeseed stalks harvester used an advanced ground clearance mechanism for mobile chassis to supply motive force，and the harvesting device was placed on the left side of the mobile chassis to form the overall structure of the rapeseed bolt harvesting machine；The rapeseed stalks harvester adopted inter-ridge agricultural operations，and The harvesting platform can realize the functions of lateral extension，vertical folding，automatic sliding and inclination adjustment.In addition，the rapeseed stalks harvester can complete the cutting，delivering，and collection of rapeseed stalks at one time，and meet the requirements of harvesting rape stalk.This study designed and theoretically analyzed the key components such as cutting devices，conveying devices，the harvesting header double adjustment devices，and foldable devices.Indoor bench tests were conducted with the forward speed of the entire machine，the inclination angle of the reciprocating cutter，and the inclination angle of the delivery belt as experimental factors，the stem cutting ratio，delivery success rate，and the integrity of the stems and leaves after delivering as effectiveness evaluation scales.The optimal working parameters of the harvester were determined by indoor bench test and verified by field test. <bold>Result</bold> The optimal parameter combination obtained by using Design-Expert12 is as follows：the forward speed of the whole machine is 0.57 m/s，the inclination angle of the reciprocating cutter is 21°，and the inclination angle of the conveyor belt is 26.3°.The comprehensive score of the machine-harvested rape bolting is 95.4 %，and the harvesting effect is better. <bold>Conclusion</bold> Field harvest experiments showed that under the optimal parameter combination，the designed rapeseed stalks harvester had a stem cutting ratio of 93.54%，a delivery success rate of 90.85%，and a stem and leaf integrity of 92.15% after delivery.The rapeseed stalks harvester can harvest mature rapeseed stalks with high density after sowing，and the highest harvesting efficiency of the rapeseed stalks harvester can reach 0.34 hm²/h，which meets the harvesting requirements of rape stalk.This study can provide reference for the design and optimization of mechanized harvesting structures for rapeseed stalks.