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In order to meet the challenge of high loss rate and high tuber injury rate during the operation of the 4UZL-1 sweet potato combine harvester, the sweet potato tuber hand-over lifting mechanism was designed based on a comprehensive analysis of the entire structure of the harvester. Taking the average normal force on conveying sweet potato tubers as evaluation indexes, the EDEM simulation experiment was carried out considering the factors of the angle of the excavating and conveying mechanism, the conveying angle of the scraper chain, the speed of the excavating and conveying mechanism, and the speed of the scraper chain conveying. The experimental findings indicated that the optimal operational performance of the hand-over lifting mechanism was achieved at a speed of 1.15 m/s for the excavating and conveying mechanism, an angle of 24° for the excavating and conveying mechanism, a conveying speed of 0.66 m/s for the scraper chain, and a conveying angle of 60° for the scraper chain. Field experiments were conducted based on the EDEM simulation experiment, using the loss rate and the injury rate of conveying sweet potato tubers as evaluation indexes. The results showed that the hand-over lifting mechanism demonstrated optimal operational effectiveness with an excavating and conveying mechanism angle of 20°, a scraper chain angle of 68°, an excavating and conveying mechanism speed of 1.2 m/s, and a scraper chain speed of 0.66 m/s, while the machine running speed was maintained at 1 m/s. At the moment, the hand-over lifting structure exhibited a loss rate of 1.12% and a tuber injury rate of 0.94%. The conclusions obtained serve as a valuable reference for future research and optimization of sweet potato combines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the adaptability of the seedling feeding devices to different plug trays for various seedlings, a multi-adaptive plug seedling feeding device for automatic field transplantation was developed. Its efficiency and adaptability have been improved using a seedling delivery device equipped with a row of end-effectors, which were provided with continuous plug seedlings by a compact seedling tray conveyor carrying out a reciprocating action. Each operation for the seedling feeding device could work automatically through a control system. Three categories of plug seedlings, cucumber, pepper and tomato seedlings were tested. The results of the performance test for the prototype demonstrated that the best performance emerged in the cucumber seedlings in 50-cell trays with the highest success rate of 88% at the feeding frequency of 6 groups/min. The lowest success rate was 73.33% for the tomato seedlings in 105-cell trays at the feeding frequency of 12 groups/min. It can be concluded that the automated feeding device developed in this study could be used for various plug seedlings as a result of its strong adaptability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]