Investigation of the Mechanical Characteristics of Carrot Leaves Used in a Pulling Type Harvester

¹ Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China
² Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Planting Equipment Technology, Hangzhou 310018, China
³ Zhejiang Industry Polytechnic College, Shaoxing 312000, China

^* Corresponding author: jiannengchen@zstu.edu.cn

Abstract

In order to provide a basis for the design of the mechanical harvesting parts for pulling carrot, and to obtain the best carrot leaf fruit separation effect, the mechanical properties of carrot leaf were tested. The mechanical properties of carrot leaf were tested by tensile test using a universal testing machine. The tensile strength of the carrot leaf fruit bonding part, primary carrot leaf and secondary carrot leaf were tested, and the influence of different load characteristics, different holding methods and different holding forces on the mechanical properties of carrot leaf were analyzed. The results show that under the combined action of load rate and tensile speed, the tensile strength of the carrot leaf fruit bonding part is (1.27±0.2) MPa, the tensile strength of primary carrot leaf is (5.38±0.71) MPa, and the tensile strength of secondary carrot leaf is (3.11±0.48) MPa. The tensile strength of the carrot leaf fruit bonding part is the smallest, and the carrot will only separate at the bonding part when pulled. When holding, the flexible conveyor belt causes less damage to the carrot leaf than the rigid conveyor chain. When harvesting carrots by pulling, it is only suitable to hold the carrot leaf with a flexible conveyor belt, and the carrot leaf fruit separation effect is good and the efficiency is high when pulling the carrot at a constant speed of 400mm/min.