Vol 34, No 1 (2024)

Introduction. When harvesting potatoes from the waterlogged soils, the gaps between the elevator bars become clogged, the soil separation efficiency decreases while damage to potato tubers and yield loss increases. In this study, the authors propose a potato harvester intensifier in the paddle conveyor form to improve the separation quality for specific conditions. It is located under the carrying run of the main elevator apron.

Aim of the Study. The aim of the study is theoretical justification of the potato harvester paddle intensifier for separating potato tubers from waterlogged soils in order to reduce damage to potatoes during harvesting.

Materials and Methods. There was analyzed the work of the separation intensifier with a paddle conveyor located under the carrying side of the potato harvester main elevator with flexible flat blades moving towards the main elevator apron. The intensifier paddle, installed under the elevator carrying side, must act as a pusher when potato tubers stick and fall into the gap between the elevator bars in harvesting potatoes from waterlogged soils.

Results. The analysis of potato tuber motion relative to the bar has showed that under the specified parameters and conditions the pitch of blades equal to 210 mm provides the falling of the ball clod from the bar and blade on the conveyor belt without impact. In order to avoid the friction of potato tubers and impurities with bars, the distance between the intensifier conveyor belt and bars must exceed the gap between bars. When the distance between the conveyor belt and bar is equal to 30 mm, the blade pitch is determined to within 1 per cent by the speed of a blade moving relative to the bar.

Discussion and Conclusion. The conducted theoretical studies of the blade intensifier of potato harvester separation on overwatered soils revealed its high efficiency, which is confirmed by the results of field experiments.

Introduction. A very common technology of pedigree seed production is associated with manual in-process transshipment of many sacks that over time results in damaged sacks and in worsening of grain storage conditions. In this regard, there is a need to design a multifunctional rigid container, which will provide cost-effective storage of seed grain through the airtightness and control of the indoor environment.

Aim of the Study. The study is aimed at designing a multifunctional container for primary seed production of grain crops with justification according to the criteria of technical and economic efficiency in comparison with pallet spaces and sacks.

Materials and Methods. The state standard for economic evaluation of agricultural machinery was applied to assess the impact of reducing in-process transshipment of many sacks and seed losses in primary seed production of grain crops. Wheat seeds were used as the seed-producing crop under study. As service equipment there were used Wintersteiger Delta plot combine with a cutterbar working width of 2 m, seed bagging system or grain hopper 1.5 m³, Belarus 622 tractor with 1PTS-2 semi-trailer, TOR CD1 10916 electric telpher, and convective grain drying units on the basis of SL-0.3x 2 tray dryer for grain.

Results. The authors of the article have estimated the technical and economic efficiency of using sacks and multifunctional containers in technological operations of harvesting, transporting and drying grain. With the annual notional volume of work in 400.7 tons, the saving of total money costs for a plot seed combine-harvester averages 117.9 thousand rubles. The reduction in the cost of work performance is 32.8%, payback period is 2 years; the decrease in the need for service personnel and harvesters is not revealed. At the same time, the reduction in the need for energy sources is 32.3%.

Discussion and Conclusion. It has been determined that during technological operations of harvesting, transporting and drying, the best seed production performance is when using the multifunctional container with the following indicators of specific cargo turnover, p: U_i = 800 t/km²; L_г = 0.15 km; b = 0.01 km; L_п‒т = 0.5 km, initial humidity of seeds is 21%. In the process of using this container, the production cost, need for service personnel, energy sources and machinery are reduced.

Introduction. When growing tall-growth crops (cereal crops in late the phases of development, corn, sunflower, etc.), there are used boom sprayers equipped with twin-fluid spray cones with fixed angles of inclination to the vertical of the spray cones. The working fluid is applied with such sprays are more intensively on the front side of the plant leaves while the intensity of covering the plants from the back side with the working fluid decreases. The development of the spray system will allow improving the quality of crop treatment with boom sprayers.

Aim of the Study. The aim of the research is to determine experimentally the algorithm for changing the angles of inclination of a twin-fluid spray cone that provides the same intensity of applying working liquid to the leaves of high-growth plants.

Materials and Methods. The research was carried out on a test bench by applying colored water to the front and rear sides of a tall-growth plant model moving at a specified speed. The experiment was carried out according to the method of optimal planning. The difference between the content of droplets on the front and rear sides of the tall-growth plant model was taken as an optimization parameter. Variable factors were the spray cone inclination angles and the operating speed of the sprayer.

Results. The algorithm for changing the optimum values of the spray cone inclination angles depending on the sprayer speed was determined based on the equality of the first derivative of the optimization to zero parameter by the value of these angles.

Discussion and Conclusion. According to the algorithm, when the sprayer operating speed increases from 1.2 to 3.2 m/s, the optimal angle of inclination to the front spray cone vertical changes linearly from 25 to 21 degrees, and the rear one ‒ from 46.7 to 57 degrees. This algorithm will allow justifying the technical specifications to develop a processor for automatic control of the spray cone inclination angles cones when the sprayer is operating.

Funding: The research was carried out in the Federal Agricultural Kursk Research Center under the state assignment No. FGZU-2022-0005 and at the Zhangir Khan West Kazakhstan Agrarian Technical University under the R&D plan for 2020‒2025 “Resource-saving technologies and technical means of cultivation and harvesting of agricultural crops in Western Kazakhstanˮ.

Introduction. Environmental pollution prevention, including prevention of water bodies, with nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) when they are removed from agricultural lands with possible runoff is a topical problem that requires a timely solution. The studies have found that the removal of nutrients is a result of geochemical processes, fertilization, and other factors. In this regard, mathematical modeling of the process of removal of nutrients from agricultural lands and their possible entry into water bodies is an urgent task.

Aim of the Study. The study is aimed at modeling and predicting the process of possible removal of nutrients from agricultural lands to water bodies.

Materials and Methods. When conducting the study, there were used well-known modeling methods. They are the methods for calculating the removal of nutrients from agricultural objects into water bodies, based on the minimum amount of initial information for predicting the eutrophication of water bodies and agrochemical methods taking into account the structure and size of field and agricultural areas, crop yields, and removal nutrients with the harvest.

Results. Based on an analysis of the literature and expert judgment, a list of the most significant indicators influencing the process of nitrogen and phosphorus removal was justified. There have been developed mathematical models to determine and predict the input of nutrients from agricultural lands to water bodies. There have been found significant indicators influencing the amount of input of nutrients, such as the amount of applied fertilizers, the volume of moisture, soil water capacity, field area, depth of cultivation, etc. There is given an example of calculating the amount of input of nutrients into water bodies with a rainfall intensity of 50 mm per hour.

Discussion and Conclusion. The essence of the proposed mathematical models comes down to the synthesis of numerous indicators in the complex process of removal of nutrients and their impact on water quality. The proposed mathematical models make it possible to predict the removal of nutrients from agricultural lands and to develop and implement technical and technological solutions to prevent environmental pollution.

Introduction. Induction heating is a preferred heating technique for industrial, medical and consumer systems, because it has a number of advantages over traditional heat transfer methods. The advantages include energy efficiency, heating rate, safety of operation, cleanliness of the process, low metal consumption, simple design, and precise control of the temperature of the heated raw materials. An induction heating unit is especially important for farms involved in processing of milk and producing milk-based products.

Aim of the Study. The study is aimed at developing a prototype unit for long-term pasteurization of milk using a container heated by induction currents and at selecting optimal operating conditions for the developed prototype unit.

Materials and Methods. There was used 3D modeling in the KOMPAS-3D computer-aided design system to develop the main components of a milk pasteurization prototype unit with induction heating. The container for raw materials, stirrer and lid are made of stainless steel AISI 304 and AISI 430. The inductor is a frame made of polymer material with a litz wire arranged in a spiral manner. The body of the prototype unit is made of aluminum composite material. The developing and debugging of the electronic circuit of the prototype unit power part was carried out with the use of the design program Proteus 7.10. The microcontroller Mega 2560 was used to make the power part of the electromagnetic induction generation unit. The controlled temperature was monitored by using the waterproof temperature sensor DS18B20. A thermal imager was used to visualize the propagation of the thermal field over the surface of the container walls.

Results. The structure diagram of the developed prototype unit with induction heating for long-term pasteurization of milk is presented. The article gives grounds to the use of the necessary elements and actuators in the unit for pasteurization of milk in a container heated by induction currents. There are presented a diagram of the developed power part for the prototype unit and the results of testing it when heating containers made of various materials. An algorithm has been developed to control the operation and PID regulation of the milk pasteurization in an experimental unit with the use the Raspberry Pi microcomputer. The graphs of transient processes when changing the coefficients of PID temperature control are presented.

Discussion and Conclusion. When testing the induction heating principle on stainless steels of different compositions, it has been concluded that for the efficiency of heating the container, there is required a ferromagnetic steel pad welded on top of the main container made of food-grade stainless steel. The developed system of inductors made it possible to create a prototype unit with two heating zones depending on the volume of processed raw materials that is important for small farms engaged in processing milk and producing milk-based products.

Introduction. Control of the presence of subsurface defects in products from composite materials is necessary for verification of products after release from production and in the process of operation.

Aim of the Study. The purpose of the presented work is to estimate the parameters of subsurface defects using local laser thermography, suitable for quality control of both small objects and suspicious areas of large objects with curved surfaces.

Materials and Methods. The laboratory setup on which this work was carried out includes a robotic arm, a COX CG640 thermal imager and a 3 W laser. The method was tested on a fiberglass sample with introduced delamination defect simulations located at different depths below the surface. By means of computer modeling rational parameters of thermographic control were selected, providing reliable detection of the defect at a depth of up to 3 mm under the surface of the composite sample.

Results. Numerical modeling of surface temperature field induced by moving focused laser beam was carried out using COMSOL software package. It showed that laser beam with 3 W power moving at 5 mm/s provided the thermal contrast sufficient to detect the defects at the depth up to 3 mm. The obtained experimental data are in satisfactory agreement with numerical modeling both qualitatively and quantitatively. Experimental data were used to construct a regression model for determining defect depth based on the maximal thermal contrast and the time interval between heating and the contrast maximum.

Discussion and Conclusion. The results obtained in this work allow us to propose a technique for detecting defects in fiberglass plastics and estimating their depth. The coefficient of determination for the obtained regression model was found to be equal to 0.95, and the mean square error of the metric was no more than 0.016 mm². The use of a robotic arm to scan objects will make it possible to investigate objects with complex curved surfaces.