Design and experiment of self-propelled straw forage crop harvester

The harvesting straw feed crops (silage corn, alfalfa, herbaceous mulberry, etc.) was tedious, high-labor-cost, and large-nutrient-loss. A self-propelled straw forage crop harvester, which could realize the integration of cutting, flattening and modulating, chopping, and throwing straw forage crops, was designed. The cutting angle could freely be adjusted between 0° and 8°. The max rotation speed of the flattening roller could reach 590 r/min and could be adjusted consecutively by the hydraulic control device. To verify the performance of this machine, several harvesting experiments of alfalfa, silage corn, and herbaceous mulberry with different moisture, were carried out on this machine. During the experiment, the average working speed of the machine was 1.6 m/s, the cutting height was 40–80 mm, and the flattening rate was 97.14%. It is determined that the suitable cutting speed for harvesting alfalfa is 2131 r/min; the suitable cutting speed for harvesting silage corn is 836 r/min; the suitable cutting speed for harvesting herb mulberry is 1045 r/min. The design of the machine can not only improve labor productivity and reduce the nutrient loss of forage crop but also support the silage harvesting machinery and equipment for forage crop.