IMPROVING THE EFFICIENCY OF USING CARRIER VEHICLES AT MECHANIZED HARVESTING OF CABBAGE
The research goal is to increase the efficiency of using of carrier vehicles at mechanized harvesting of headed cabbage. The following research problems are involved: to develop new methods of transport and technological services of mechanized harvesting of headed cabbage and to test their effectiveness in a production environment. The organization of transport and technological services under the new scheme provides for mechanized harvesting of cabbage by loading cabbage head with a special loading device in confined area into vegetable containers placed on the platform of a tractor trailer and then dispatching for long storage in the same containers. In this case, the containers are placed in the cargo box of the vehicle in two rows: the containers of the first row are pressed to the right side, and the containers of the second row are partially moved first to the left side fixed in the plane of the bottom of the box providing a working passage between the rows to service the process of loading the containers of the first row, and then, after filling them, the containers of the second row are returned to their original position, creating working space for servicing the process of loading the containers of the second row. The loading of cabbage heads directly into the containers became possible due to a special loading device consisting of an elastic tray and a flexible apron mounted on the elevator of the combine harvester. Further, after filling all the containers with cabbage heads, it is planned to prepare the vehicle for travel to the vegetable storage by returning the left side to the original closed position. In the course of field studies, it was found that the harvesting process according to the proposed scheme proceeded steadily and rhythmically. The down-time of carrier vehicles in the vegetable storage while waiting for unloading did not exceed 10-15 minutes - 6-7 times less as compared to the conventional technology of harvesting headed cabbage. At the same time, it also ensures a more complete use of the load capacity of carrier vehicles during their operation.