Vol 33, No 3 (2023)

Introduction. The article substantiates the design schemes of coulters and, in general, coulter groups of potato planters based on the morphological features of the potato plant, its requirements for growing conditions and ensuring the high-quality performance of the planting process. The purpose of the coulter groups is to form a bed for placing seed tubers with a loose soil layer of 5–8 cm and to cover seed tubers with loose soil to a certain depth.
Aim of the Article. The study is aimed at developing technological scheme and substantiating constructive parameters of coulter groups of potato planters, which meet most requirements for the conditions of potato plant growing.
Materials and Methods. A comparative analysis of force estimation of furrow-opening working bodies is carried out and qualitative indicators of technological process of planting are determined. There is developed an experimental design of coulter groups of potato planters with the system for automatic maintenance of the depth of potato planting by correcting the angle of coulter attack if there are the field relief irregularities.
Results. Experimental studies optimized the parameters of a coulter suspension providing automatic maintenance of the depth of potato planting while detecting field micro-relief irregularities up to 20 cm deep within the initial requirements for potato planters.
Discussion and Conclusion. The coulters with an individual floating suspension and an acute angle of entry into the soil most fully meet the requirements for the growing conditions of a potato plant. Automatic maintenance of the specified coulter travel depth within the initial requirements (±2 cm) with field micro- relief irregularities up to 200 mm is provided by a coulter group with a suspension aspect ratio of 150:200:400:400 cm.

Introduction. The review of literature sources has shown that at the moment there are no reliable methods, which theoretically determine the main parameters of axial devices for threshing grass seeds and it is necessary to conduct researches to establish a mathematical relationship between these parameters and quality indicators.
Aim of the Article. The article aim is theoretical substantiation of the dependence of the main parameters of axial devices for threshing grass seeds on the quality requirements to the technological process of threshing grass seeds.
Materials and Methods. A set of priori information about the operation of axial rasp-bar threshers, the analysis of literary sources and own observations of the working process of the clover thresher K-0.3 allowed determining the basic prerequisites to develop an algorithm for solving the task.
Results. As a result of theoretical consideration of the process of moving particles of the processed material in the working space of a drum-deck axial-rotor device for threshing grass seeds, a system of mathematical equations is obtained. The solution of the resulting system of equations makes it possible to determine the average axial velocity of the particles and a number of impacts inflicted by the rasps on them during movement. There is obtained an expression for linking the degree of seed threshing and main parameters of the device such as length, a number of rasps and the direction of their cleats, and the frequency of rotation of the drum.
Discussion and Сonclusion. It was found that the degree of seed threshing significantly depends on both the length of the threshing device and a number of drum rasps and the direction of their cleats. The theoretical dependencies obtained as a result of the study make it possible to determine the main parameters of axial devices for threshing seeds, depending on the requirements imposed on the device.

Introduction. At present, an intuitive graphical interface is an indispensable component of modern agricultural-oriented software products.
Aim of the Article. The research is aimed at improving the efficiency of sorting apples by developing a graphical control interface for a vision system to recognize various defects and sort apples.
Materials and Methods. The authors used methods of analysis, enumeration, comparison and synthesis of modern software solutions.
Results. As a result of the research, there was created a graphical application of the software for the control unit of the machine vision system containing all the necessary tools for managing and optimizing costs when sorting apples into three commercial quality classes.
Discussion and Conclusion. The graphical interface of the machine vision system was used in the line LSP-4 for sorting and packing apples. It was developed by Scientific and Practical Center NAS of Belarus for Agricultural Mechanization in 2020 and successfully passed state acceptance tests.

Introduction. Russian and foreign manufacturers of volumetric hydraulic drives recommend using hydraulic oils (working fluid) from certain manufacturers for their hydraulic units: Lukoil, Gazpromneft, Mobil, Hydrau Gard, SHELL, Total, etc. The oils have different physicochemical properties, because of different additive packages in their composition. However, changes in these properties during operation are a negative factor. In this regard, the physicochemical properties of the power fluid will affect the determination of diagnostic parameters, namely their accuracy and reliability. Therefore, when monitoring the technical condition of volumetric hydraulic drives in bench equipment, it is necessary to use hydraulic oil, withconstant physico-chemical properties. To select power fluid for determining the parameters of diagnosing new and existing volumetric hydraulic drives of Russian and foreign production with a minimum error, it is necessary to conduct experimental studies.
Materials and Methods. As power fluid there were used Hydraulic oils MGE-46B and SHELL TELLUS S2 V46 recommended by manufacturers for volumetric hydraulic drives НST-90, НST-112 and Danfoss Power Solutions 90-series respectively. During the experiment, the volume efficiency and torque of volumetric hydraulic drives were tested as diagnostic parameters. The tests were carried out on specialized bench equipment in accordance with the requirements (methodology) of the manufacturers.
Results. Experimental studies presented in the article have shown that the changes in the temperature of the power fluid affect significantly the accuracy of the diagnosed parameters of hydraulic units under study. It was found that the power fluid SHELL TELLUS S2 V46 allows reliably determining the diagnostic parameters of new and having operating time domestic hydraulic units. Optimal temperature ranges equal to 60...69 °C were obtained for power fluid – MGE-46V when testing new and having operating time foreign hydraulic units Danfoss Power Solutions 90-series.

Introduction. The article presents the results of statistical analysis of basic technical parameters of modern combine harvesters, comprising a sample of 150 models. A new complex criterion for assessing the technical level of combine harvesters called the harmonization coefficient is proposed, which makes it possible to evaluate the perfection degree of combine harvester design and identify the ways to improve them.
Materials and Methods. There was applied statistical analysis identifying homogeneous statistical samples by harvester classes from 4 to 12 kg/sec.
Results. On the example of a sample of 16 different combine harvester models, the harmonization coefficients of combine harvester design were calculated. The applied statistical equations for calculating combine harvester parameters reflect global trends in the development of combine harvester design and were called theoretical parameters, then they were compared with the actual parameters of combine harvesters.
Discussion and Conclusion. A technique for digital assessment of the technical level of combine harvesters is proposed.  There was identified a group of combine harvesters with a very high harmonization coefficient 0.93‒0.94. We mean first of all German harvesters of Claas company (Medion 340, Dominator 150, Lexion 580), Russian harvester of Rostselmash company (TORUM 740) and American Massey Ferguson (MF 7278). There is a large group of combine harvesters, which have a harmonizationcoefficient of their design in terms of parameters below 0.9, therefore, they may be improved in accordance with global trends, for example, the 5270 C-AL combine harvester of the German company Fendt needs the increase in engine power from 180 HP to 252 HP, reducing the concave area from 1.3 to 0.81 m2, increasing the area of the straw separator from 5.7 to 7.2 m2 and reducing the area of the cleaning sieves from 6.0 to 5.4 m2.

Introduction. In the process of convective drying, there is a contradiction between drying speed and energy efficiency. One of the solutions to this contradiction is the use of targeted energy supply to the product. The method of targeted energy supply is the use of electromagnetic radiation in the drying process.
Aim of the Article. The study was aimed at obtaining the coefficients of a logarithmic model for calculating the performance of a belt IR dryer for drying carrots.
Materials and Methods. There were studied a modular belt IR dryer with the ability to control the speed of the belt and the power of the emitters. To describe the process, there were used standard models of the dependence of relative water content on drying time.
Results. An analysis of the drying rate curves showed an extreme effect of the belt speed on the drying rate. At belt speeds above 10 mm/s, an increase in belt speed leads to an increase in the duration of the drying process. To describe the kinetics of the drying process at IR powers of 170, 300, and 450 W, there was used a logarithmic model, as it most adequately describes the experimental data.
Discussion and Conclusion. For this type of dryers it is recommended to use the belt speed of about 10 mm/sec. The obtained coefficients of the logarithmic model are used to calculate the capacity of the drying unit.