USING MATLAB TO SIMULATION THE CUTTING UNIT OF A POTATO DIGGER

Abstract

         Potatoes are essential crop and providing them in significant quantities requires highly efficient machinery. Since the regulation and standardization process is not fixed, it was necessary to conduct tests to choose the best combination. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to choose the best calibration to obtain the best results. The field experiment was conducted in one of the agricultural fields in the Yusufiyah area of ​​the Mahmoudiya district, which is located about 25 km south of the capital, Baghdad. The experiment was conducted for the purpose of studying the effect of the speed and cutting angle of the potato digger on some performance indicators. A simulation experiment was also conducted by using MATLAB, Solid Works, and 3D MAX for the purpose of comparing the simulation experiment with the field experiment and finding out the extent of agreement between the two experiments. In the two experiments, two factors were used, the first being forward speed, at three levels (1.95, 3, 4.74) km. h^-1 . The second factor is the cutting angle of the potato digger, with three levels (12, 17, and 20) degrees. The characteristics to be measured are productivity (kg. h^-1), Minor losses (%), major losses (%), fuel consumption (l. ha^-1) This research used a completely randomized design with three replications. The results were analyzed statistically and the averages were tested at the least significant difference of 0.05. The results showed that there were significant effects of forward speed and cutting angle on all the studied characteristics. Increasing the speed from 1.95 to 4.74 km. h^-1 led to an increase in productivity, fuel consumption and costs. The percentage of minor losses decreased from 6.1 to 3.3% when the speed increased from 1.95 to 3.00 km. h^-1, and when the speed increased to 4.47 km. h^-1, the percentage of minor losses increased by 4.6%, as well as in the simulation case.

            When the cutting angle increases from 12 to 17 and then to 20 degrees. Productivity (kg.h-1), minor losses (%), and significant losses (%) all decreased. At the same time, both fuel consumption and costs increased.