Justification of the main structural and technological parameters of the twin-roll rotary grinder
Regular pruning of fruit trees is an essential prerequisite for increasing the yield and quality of fruits. At the same time, phytomass waste during pruning of fruit trees, depending on the age and biological characteristics of the variety, can range from 3 to 20 or more tons per hectare. Alienated wood when pruning fruit trees is dragged outside the garden, burned or dumped into ravines. Harvesting and disposal of cut woody material in orchards are mandatory operations in the technological process of fruit production. At the same time, they are associated with high material and labor costs due to the low level of mechanization and the low efficiency of the technologies used. Of particular difficulty is the utilization of wood waste on sloping lands in terraced gardening. Therefore, the problem of utilization and rational use of alienated fruit wood is relevant. The most simple, rational and promising is the use of cut branches in crushed form for soil mulching. This contributes to the accumulation and conservation of moisture in the soil, its enrichment with organic matter, mineral nutrition elements, improvement of agrophysical properties and, ultimately, the involvement of alienated wood in the cycle of substances without harming the environment. In the article, based on a comparative multi-criteria (labor costs, fuel consumption, given operating costs and environmental impact) of the analysis of existing technologies for the utilization of branches, the feasibility of using the technological process of chopping branches with subsequent spreading of chopped wood pulp over the soil surface has been proved. The main design and technological parameters and operating modes of a two-roll rotary grinder are established: sharpening angles of the front (-5-15°) and rear (60-70°) edges of the knife; radius of rotation of the cutting edge of the knife: 0.125 m; branches feed rate (1.4-2.1 m/s); circumferential speed of the cutting edge of the knife (8-12 m/s).