Assessment of Load on Threshing Bar During Soybean Pod Threshing

Abstract

Purpose: This study investigated the threshing load experienced by the threshing bar when it collides with soybean pods during the threshing process. Methods: The threshing machine was designed and modeled in the commercial design software, Solidworks, referring to the threshing compartment of a commercial thresher available in Korea. The threshing load was simulated using a commercial simulation software and was recorded for each rotating speed. The actual load experienced by the threshing bar during soybean pod threshing was measured by a strain gauge attached to the threshing bar. Load data from the strain gauge was collected at each microsecond interval. Results: The results of the field test and simulations showed that the load gap range varied from about 0.15 N at 250 rpm to about 1.00 N at 400 rpm rotational speed. It was observed that stress increases with an increase in rotational speed, which was similar in both simulation and field experiment. The probable reasons for this difference were the lack of consideration for the joint characteristics between the threshing bar and drum, the properties of the soybean pods, and the influence of gravity and pressure on the field test results. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to The Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery.