Performance and uptime assessment loader-transporter of hay rolls

The article presents a constructive and schematic diagram of a loader-conveyor of hay rolls designed by the Volgograd State Agrarian University, which is presented in the form of three interconnected systems: chassis, equipment for grabbing and lifting rolls and hydraulic system with drives for grabbing and lifting rolls. From the point of view of the reliability of the unit, its systems are presented as sequentially connected; the results of studies of replaceable productivity and the main indicators of reliability of the loader-conveyor of hay rolls are presented: failure times and the probability of failure-free operation during operation in real conditions of agricultural enterprises.

Introduction. Animal husbandry in the Russian Federation is one of the main branches of agriculture, and cattle breeding is its most important subspecies. The provision of meat and milk to the population of the country cannot be successfully carried out without the availability of the necessary amount of high-quality feed for cattle. The most important feed for cattle is coarse feed, in particular, hay. When harvesting hay, there is a risk of significant losses not only of feed volumes, but also of its quality, which leads to poor productivity of animals. The level of feed quality losses is associated to a greater extent with violations of agro technical deadlines, the fulfillment of which is ensured by the necessary number of machines performing individual technological operations, their high replaceable productivity and a sufficient level of reliability. To increase the productivity and reliability of newly developed machines to the required level, it is important to know the achieved level of these indicators not only in the laboratory, but also in real operating
conditions.

The purpose of the work is to assess the performance and the main indicators of reliability of the experimental sample of the loader–conveyor of hay rolls.

Materials and methods. In the preparation of this work, materials from open source websites, scientific articles and other publications of scientists from research institutes and higher educational institutions were used. The object of the study was experimental samples of a loader-transporter of hay rolls designed by the Volgograd State Agrarian University, the performance of which has been proven by experimental studies. The methodological basis for assessing the reliability indicators of the loader-transporter of hay rolls was the provisions of probability theories and reliability of technical systems, as well as regulatory documents.

Results and discussion. Hay bale loader productivity per shift was defined as the total weight of hay bales loaded onto the loader platform, delivered and unloaded at the storage location during the shift. The number of rolls was determined based on the results of timing the work of loaders transporting hay rolls in two farms in the Volgograd region. Based on the results of timing the operation of the units over four harvesting seasons, the average values of the following indicators of the use of the loader-transporter under study were determined: time for shift maintenance; additional time spent preparing the unit for operation; time spent loading one roll (grabbing, lifting and lowering a roll of hay onto the platform of a loader-transporter); cycle time; time spent on loading, delivering, unloading rolls of hay from the loader-transporter and returning it to the field; the number of trips and rolls of hay delivered to the storage location per shift of operation of the unit; duration of cleaning, expressed in shifts; the number of rolls of hay delivered by loader-transporters to the storage location during the harvest season; the mass of hay harvested by one loader-transporter during the harvesting season; changeable performance of the hay bale loader-transporter. The curves of the actual and theoretical density of the time – to – failure distribution and the results of testing the hypothesis of the theoretical distribution law according to the criterion χ2 are presented.

Conclusions. According to experimental data obtained as a result of timing two experimental loaders-transporters of hay rolls over four harvesting seasons, it was determined that the number of hay rolls delivered to the storage location by one unit during one shift varied from 40 to 69 pieces; the number of rolls of hay delivered by two loader-transporters to the storage location during the study was 5978 pieces; The productivity of the loader-transporter of hay rolls varied from 53.02 t∙km per shift up to 92.50 t∙km. With a total operating time of loader-transporters of up to 6,000 pieces of hay rolls, the average time between failures of the chassis was 315 pieces, the equipment for gripping and lifting rolls was 278 pieces, and hydraulic systems with drives for gripping and lifting rolls – 565 pieces, and a loader-transporter of hay rolls – a total of 352 pieces.

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