High-Speed Photography Analysis on Sugarcane Base Cutting Process of Contra-Rotating Basecutters

In mechanical sugarcane harvesting, the basecutter is a critical component determining the basecutting quality and energy consumption, both of which have a close relationship with basecutting times (number of contacts between sugarcane and basecutting blades to completely cut cane stools). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the influencing factors and basecutting times by employing a high-speed camera. In this paper, the influencing factors were determined to be the rotational speed (RS) and tilt angle (TA) of the cutting disk, sugarcane stalk feeding rate (FR), and sugarcane stool diameter (SD). Four single-factor experiments and an orthogonal experiment (four factors and four levels) were carried out. In addition, two methods were employed to analyze the experimental data: analysis of range (ANOR) and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results showed that RS, TA, and SD had positive effects on the basecutting times, while FR had a negative effect. In addition, the order of influence of the above four factors on the basecutting times, obtained by ANOR, was FR > SD > RS > TA (2.625 > 1.75 > 1.425 > 1), and the optimal combination (150 rpm of RS, 5° of TA, 60 mm of SD, and 1.3 m/s of FR) to minimize the basecutting times was also determined. Based on the ANOVA results, basecutting times were significantly affected by FR and RS (p = 0.008, 0.047   0.05). The results of this study will provide a reference for engineers to design and optimize sugarcane basecutters.