Technological Methods for Increasing Flax Harvester Durability

The paper highlights that the diverse natural conditions for flax cultivation and harvesting across different regions of the country require improvements in the reliability of both serially produced and newly developed machinery for the flax industry. ( Research purpose ) The study aims to develop a methodology to increase the durability of flax harvesters through the design both new and standardized components, with the goal of extending machine service life by a factor of 1.5. ( Materials and methods ) Reliability indicators at the first stage of machine creation were determined by calculations, reliability indicators of serial machines were determined on the basis of operational tests and surveys in farms, as well as during accelerated bench tests of individual components and machines as a whole. ( Results and discussion ) The results show that the presented calculations effectively support the performance evaluation of flax harvesters using a generalized load mode. It is demonstrated that standardizing the operating modes of mechanisms eliminates the need for lengthy static (statistical) field tests and enables prediction of component durability. Furthermore, regulating these operating modes creates the foundation not only for improving the reliability of service life estimates but also for programming accelerated bench tests and the prediction of drive component durability. ( Conclusions ) The proposed methodology can be recommended for addressing durability challenges in the components and assemblies of flax harvesters. The study confirms the need for developing a wear-resistance improvement strategy based on the formalization of accumulated knowledge using modern tools and engineering techniques. The provided examples demonstrate that developing new components, specifically the stripping mechanism and the pickup drum, and introducing standardized units can increase machine durability by a factor of 1.5.