Method and results of laboratory and field studies of a separating system with thermal energy of cleaning a machine for sugar beet harvesting

Relevance . An important task set for producers is to extract root crops from the soil as quickly as possible and reduce harvesting time. In pursuit of machine productivity, equipment manufacturers neglect the quality of the harvested products; compliance with agrotechnical requirements is not fully ensured, such as the permissible total contamination of root crops — no more than 10%, including plant matter — no more than 2%. From the above it follows that with an increase in the productivity of harvesting machines, it is necessary to increase the productivity of separating devices, since a large amount of soil impurities enters sugar factories along with sugar beets. The developed system allows cleaning devices to ensure the technological process of working in conditions of optimal humidity when harvesting sugar beets W = 18–22%, with this indicator increasing to 25–27%. At the same time, the cleaning ability of the separating system increases depending on the humidity and mechanical composition of the soil by reducing the sticking of soil into the gaps of the separating surface. Methods . Conducting empirical studies is due to the need to confirm the theoretical dependencies obtained, their correlation with the performance indicators of the developed separation system of the beet harvester in the field. Results . As a result of the conducted research, it was found that an increase in the rotational frequency of the separating star leads to a decrease in the completeness of separation by an average of 1.6%. The separation completeness ranges from 96.2 to 96.8% have been determined, which is due to the drying processes of soil impurities on the surface of the cleaning star rods from the heat of the exhaust gases of the power plant.