Existing cleaning devices for edible sunflower have a low cleaning efficiency, high cleaning loss rate, and high impurity rate; therefore, a wind-sieve-type cleaning device for edible sunflower harvesting was designed. According to the characteristics of dislodged objects, a vibrating screen for the device was designed, and the dislodged edible sunflower objects in the device were used for a mechanical analysis of the force conditions to determine the displacement of the different edible sunflower objects dislodged by the action of airflow. Using FLUENT-DEM gas–solid coupling simulation technology, the velocity of the flow field, the velocity vector, and the trajectory of the dislodged objects inside the cleaning device were analyzed, and the law of motion applied to the airflow and the dislodged objects inside the device was clarified. According to the results of the coupled simulation analysis, the key factors affecting the operation of the cleaning device were wind speed, vibration frequency, and amplitude. Based on the key factors of wind speed, vibration frequency, and amplitude, an orthogonal rotary combination test was carried out with the loss rate and impurity rate of cleaned grains as the evaluation indexes, and the test parameters were optimized to obtain the optimal combination of operating parameters of the device, which were as follows: wind speed: 30 m·s⁻¹; vibration frequency: 8.44 Hz; and amplitude: 41.35 mm. With this combination of parameters, the seed loss rate and impurity rate reached 3.47% and 6.17%, respectively. Based on the optimal combination of operating parameters, a validation test was performed, and the results of this test were compared with the results of the test bench using this combination of parameters. The results show that the relative errors of the loss rate and impurity rate between the bench test and the simulation test were 3.45% and 3.07%, respectively, which are less than 5%, proving the reliability of the simulation analysis and the reasonableness of the design of the test bench.

To solve the problems associated with the poor harvesting ability of existing sunflower harvester cutting tables, and high seed drop rates, we designed a sunflower cutting table that can greatly improve the operational performance of sunflower combine harvesters. In this paper, we introduce the structure and principle of the whole machine and select the key parameters of the cutting table with the goal of adapting to a variety of planting modes in Xinjiang, China. Since the harvesting of sunflower in the wrong row easily causes the sunflower stalks to break, ADAMS (Version: 2020) simulation experiments were carried out to investigate the effects of the forward speed of the machine, the height of the sunflower insertion disk, and the angle of inclination of the harvest divider on the offset angle of the sunflower. With the goal of reducing the offset angle of the stalks in the forward direction of the harvest divider and reducing the size of the cutting table, the harvest divider inclination angle was chosen to be 45°; by using Design-Expert V13.0.15 software, a three-factor, three-level field test was carried out to determine the optimal parameter combinations that resulted in the minimum seed loss rate and the maximum success rate of the disk picking. Moreover, a validation test was conducted. The results show that when the forward speed is set to 0.62 m/s, the lifting speed of the pick-up disk device is set to 0.42 m/s, and the height of the inserted disk is set to 1000 mm, the relative errors between the theoretical values of the disk-picking success rate of the cutting table and the seed loss rate and the field test values are 6.5% and 1.3%, respectively. The results of the present study can provide a reference for improving the performance of sunflower harvester cutting tables and for the mechanical harvesting of inserted disk sunflowers.

To address the problems of low crushing efficiency and uneven distribution in traditional straw crushing and returning machines for cotton stalk return operations in Xinjiang, a vertical straw crushing and returning machine with large and small dual-blade discs was designed, adapted to Xinjiang’s cotton planting model. The machine employs a differentiated configuration of large and small blade discs corresponding to four and two rows of cotton stalks, respectively, effectively reducing tool workload while significantly improving operational efficiency. A simulation model of the crushing and returning machine was developed using the discrete element method (DEM), and a flexible cotton stalk model was established to systematically investigate the effects of machine forward speed, crushing blade rotational speed, and knife tip-to-ground clearance on operational performance. Single-factor simulation experiments were conducted using crushing qualification rate and broken stalk drop rate as evaluation indicators. Subsequently, a multi-factor orthogonal field experiment was designed with Design-Expert software (13.0.1.0, Stat-Ease Inc, Minneapolis, MN, USA). The optimal working parameters were determined to be machine forward speed of 3.5 m/s, crushing blade shaft speed of 1500 r/min, and blade tip ground clearance of 60 mm. Verification tests demonstrated that under these optimal parameters, the straw crushing qualification rate reached 95.9% with a broken stalk drop rate of 15.5%. The relative errors were less than 5% compared to theoretical optimization values, confirming the reliability of parameter optimization. This study provides valuable references for the design optimization and engineering application of straw return machinery.

This study aims at the problems of high labor intensity, high cost and high loss rate of mechanical picking of seeds, low mechanization level and difficulty to guarantee the quality of picking plates in the process of picking edible sunflower. Based on the principle of manual plate taking, a plate taking control system for a sunflower harvesting table was designed. The principle of taking the plate of the edible sunflower harvesting table was analyzed. According to the actual operation requirements, the overall scheme of the sunflower plate control system is determined, and the control strategy of imitating artificial low-loss harvesting is designed. To reduce the grain loss in the process of taking the plate and improve the control accuracy of the system on the movement speed and displacement of the key components in the process of taking the plate, a trapezoidal acceleration and deceleration control algorithm is designed as the control algorithm of taking the plate. The working performance of the plate control system was verified with the absolute error, relative error and total loss rate of the harvest as objectives. Bench and field verification experiments were both carried out. The bench experiment showed that the speed error of the plate parts was not more than 0.028 m/s. In the bench experiments of the device, the maximum positioning error was 1.25 mm, the average relative error was only 0.94% and the grain loss rate was not more than 2.26%. Its result showed that the system algorithm was reliable, the positioning accuracy was high and the plate taking operation can be completed well. The field verification experiment showed that the forward speed of the unit was in the range of 0.4~0.8 m/s, and the total loss rate of harvest was less than 5%. When the forward speed is 0.6 m/s, the minimum harvest loss rate is 2.32%, which indicated the control system meets the requirements of sunflower harvesting operation.

Aiming at the problems of high labor intensity and high cost of manual picking, high loss rate of mechanical picking seeds, low mechanization level and difficult to guarantee the quality of picking plates in the process of picking plates of edible sunflower. Based on the principle of manual plate taking, a plate taking control system for sunflower harvesting table was designed. Through the research and analysis of the principle of taking the plate of the edible sunflower harvesting table. According to the actual operation requirements, the overall scheme of the sunflower plate control system is determined, and the control strategy of imitating artificial low loss harvesting is designed. To reduce the grain loss in the process of taking the plate and improve the control accuracy of the system on the movement speed and displacement of the key components in the process of taking the plate, a trapezoidal acceleration and deceleration control algorithm is designed as the control algorithm of taking the plate. To verify the working performance of the plate control system, with the absolute error, relative error and total loss rate of the harvest as objectives. The bench and field verification experiments were both carried out. The bench experiment showed that the speed error of the plate parts was not more than 0.028 m/s. In the bench experiments of the device, the maximum positioning error was 1.25 mm, the average relative error is only 0.94 %, and the grain loss rate was not more than 2.26 %. It result showed that the system algorithm was reliable, the positioning accuracy was high, and the taking plate operation can be completed well. The field verification experiment showed that the forward speed of the unit was in the range of 0.4~0.8 m/s, and the total loss rate of harvest was less than 5 %. When the forward speed is 0.6 m/s, the minimum harvest loss rate is 2.32 %, and which indicated the control system meets the requirements of sunflower harvesting operation.