Research of a contact impact of a root crop with a screw auger

The purpose of this research is the further development of the methodology and methods of optimising the parameters of root pile combined cleaners of a root crop harvesting machine. We have conducted theoretical and experimental studies of the combined cleaning system’s functioning process. By executing the analysis, we found the motion of the fodder beet through the working surfaces of the feeding conveyor and the auger installed above it. We have got an analytical and empirical process model for the fodder beet’s oblique sub-hit on the auger turn. It characterises the dependence of the total rate of the sub-hit coefficient of the technological interaction of the roots and the depth of the root damage, which depend on the main parameters of the combined cleaning system. We found out the rational limits of the basic structural and kinematic parameters of the combined cleaning system by the provided minimum fodder beet damage. It is theoretically justified that the minimum damage to roots of the beet roots will be at a contact angle of zero (γ ≅ 0) or close to it. This condition is protected with the following combinations of parameters: a screw diameter of D = 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 m and a screw speed of n = 99, 72, 50 rpm, respectively.