Potato harvesters. Agricultural machinery

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Potato is the most popular agricultural crop. The process of its harvesting has its own technological difficulties, which can be eliminated through the use of special equipment - a potato harvester. Modern agriculture cannot do without this machine, which saves not only labor costs, but also time.

What are potato harvesters?

This is an agricultural machine designed for harvesting potatoes. Some models may have additional attachments that allow you to pick up onions and beets from the swath.

Potato harvesters are designed to achieve maximum yield with minimum damage to soil and adjacent areas with other crops. These machines are highly manoeuvrable and can turn around easily even in difficult conditions and small areas.

All modern models of harvesters have a lateral type of digging. This means that the tractor is moving away from the ridge and notbehind or in front of him. This allows you to use larger tires for the wheels and, as a result, reduce the pressure on the soil.

The principle of the potato harvester

The harvester is equipped with a special digging device, which consists of two knives with an adjustable angle, a roller for adjusting the depth of immersion, spring-loaded cutting discs and rollers for removing haulm. During operation, this device digs a layer of soil with tubers and tops from a certain depth and feeds it to the screening mechanism. Then the tubers, together with the tops and unsifted soil residues, enter the feed belt. Surrounding this mechanism is a large mesh haulm belt and 5-6 rows of combs to remove leaves, soil and stones.

After all these steps, the potatoes are guided by rotating rubber "fingers" and a holding roller to the sorting board and belt to remove small potatoes and waste. The sorting panel is in a horizontal position. It is well protected from dust and provided with comfortable conditions for workers. From 5 to 7 people can work from two sides.

After sorting, the potatoes are sent along the belts for unloading into a special hopper with a moving bottom. By adjusting the height of the bottom, you can reduce the height of the fall of the tubers, and therefore reduce their damage. Also the bunker gives the chance to unload products from two parties. For small tubers, potato harvesters have a small hopper with the ability to unload.

Possible additional options

Potato harvesters may have the following options:

1. Onion and beet picker.
2. Sun canopy.
3. Funnel for unloading products.

Types of potato harvesters

All potato harvesters are subdivided according to the following parameters:

1. According to the size of the cultivated field: combines for large, large and medium, medium and small areas.
2. By silo capacity: machines with 2 ton, 3 ton bunker, etc.
3. By design: elevator and bunker.
4. According to the method of attachment: trailed, semi-mounted, mounted.
5. By the number of rows processed simultaneously: single-row, two-row, four-row combines.
6. By the method of undermining the soil: combines of the central and side undermining.

The single-row potato harvester is considered the most popular in Russia. Such a machine is ideal for processing small areas, since the volume of its bunker for different models is up to 10 tons. If the harvest is large, it is much more efficient to use an elevator-type combine. A four-row machine is much less commonly used. Basically, this type of combine is used in potato farms.

Besides the technical characteristics, most farmers pay attention to the quality indicators of the harvester. In most cases, in agriculture, lateral digging combines are used, which are much less traumatic.tubers. The fact is that in such a machine the unit is located on the side of the tractor, which travels through the already harvested area. Also, this type of harvester is distinguished by the highest quality of potato processing and greater productivity.

How to choose a harvester?

When buying a potato harvester, be sure to consider the size of the cultivated field. The machine can be used on both small and large areas. But with large volumes of processed products, a more powerful combine with better technical characteristics will be needed.

When choosing a potato harvester, you need to pay attention to the following basic parameters:

• performance indicator;
• potato harvesting stages;
• how to load tubers into the harvester;
• engine availability;
• design type of the separating mechanism;
• hardness class of parts designed to remove soil from crops.

Modern manufacturers of agricultural machinery produce potato harvesters of various models and modifications. They differ in the type of fastening, the method of tillage and other options. Therefore, the buyer can choose the optimal type of machine that will harvest efficiently, reliably and economically.

Main manufacturing companies

The modern agricultural machinery market is represented by a large number of machines of various modifications. Nowadays, among Russian farmers, the most popular ispotato harvester Grimme and combine harvester of the Dutch-Russian company "Kolnag". Until recently, Russia also produced potato harvesters at the Agrotekhresurs company. But now the enterprise produces only the KPK-2-01 model and a number of spare parts for previously manufactured types of combines.

The Grimme potato harvester has earned the best reputation in the agricultural machinery market. He has proven himself in the industrial cultivation of potatoes. In addition, the manufacturer produces machines of various types: bunker, elevator, self-propelled combines, with side and central undermining. A wide range of potato harvesters allows you to choose a machine for any type of soil. Important advantages of Grimme harvesters are the high quality of work performed and excellent performance parameters.

Domestic harvesters

Many farmers prefer Russian-made potato harvesters. Although foreign units are distinguished by better functional characteristics and greater comfort for the operator, they are less prepared to work with Russian soil. Among domestic models, the PDA machine is most often used. This type of potato harvester has been produced by Ryazselmash since 1987. At first, the plant produced a three-row unit. And after a while, we managed to launch the production of a two-row combine, which is still being produced today.

The cost of a potato harvesterunit

There are many factors that determine how much a potato harvester will cost in the end. The price for this unit today ranges from 850 thousand to 20 million rubles. The most affordable combine harvesters of domestic production. And for European multifunctional potato harvesters you will have to pay a little more. Among trailed harvesters, the most expensive segment of the market is represented by Grimme units.

Basically, the cost of a combine is affected by the level of productivity, dimensions, type of equipment (self-propelled or trailed machine), type of digging, number of rows to be harvested, quality of tubers cleaning and other parameters. If the combine is planned to be used on large areas, then it is better to choose a more powerful machine with a large bunker. And for processing small areas, the best option would be a mini potato harvester, the average cost of which is 850 thousand rubles.