OPTIMIZATION DESIGN AND TEST OF BAFFLE STRUCTURE PARAMETERS OF THE HQ-800 STRAW MILL

Crop straw is a key feed raw material processed by straw mills, but traditional mills have been hindered bulky structures, high power consumption, and low productivity. Previous research has primarily focused on optimizing the hammer structure, often overlooking the baffle, despite its considerable weight and lack of specific design applications. This study addresses that gap by optimizing the baffle design of the HQ-800 straw mill, simplifying it using a double-baffle framework. The force analysis considered gravity, hammer centrifugal force, shaft centrifugal force, main shaft torque, and material impact. Deformation and stress nephograms revealed that the area between the hammer shaft holes required structural improvement. Two optimization schemes - flat and curved - were compared. The curved design reduced maximum deformation to 29.007 μm, compared to 52.009 μm for the flat design, making it the preferred approach. Key parameters, including cutting circle diameter, center distance, and baffle thickness, were optimized using a three-factor, three-level orthogonal test, resulting in preliminary values of 200 mm, 250 mm, and 12.5 mm, respectively. Subsequent Box–Behnken testing refined these parameters to optimal values: 209 mm, 256 mm, and 12 mm. Under these conditions, the straw mill achieved a productivity of 1673 kg/h and a power consumption of 10.42 kWh/t. Compared to the unoptimized design, the optimized mill reduced volume by 44.46%, increased productivity by 5.89%, and lowered power consumption by 14.10%, fully meeting the design objectives.