Breaking Sunflower Stubble by Needle Disk Blades of an Innovative Turbodisc Cultivator

Introduction. Vertical tillage is a new resource-saving technology that allows increasing crop yields to 8.5 c/ha and improves soil structure with increased seeding depth for better root system development. For vertical tillage, there are used soil tillers such as turbodisc cultivators. The growing demand on environmental safety of technical means effect on the soil lead to the search for original solutions to reduce energy consumption and preserve soil fertility. Large volumes of crop residues in the fields are difficult to crush that leads to clogging the working bodies of machines (huskers, cultivators, plows, disc harrows) with crop residues and negatively affects the quality of crop residues crushing. Aim of the Study. The study is aimed at determining the placement height of the working bodies for breaking sunflower stubble to increase the efficiency of its embedding in the soil. Materials and Methods. А turbodisc cultivator design has been developed. The cultivator and the technological process of its operation have been examined. Theoretical mechanics was used to determine the degree of breaking plant residues by the working organs of the developed turbodisc cultivator. There was examined sunflower stubble in the form of an elastic vertical rod fixed from below. The force of impact on stubble was calculated. There were determined shear modulus and the impact force arm on the stubble. Results. There has been found obtained the expression for breaking sunflower stubble during vertical tillage with a developed turbodisc cultivator. There has been proposed a method for embedding stubble of tall-stemmed plants in the soil. Discussion and Conclusion. To increase the efficiency of embedding stubble of tall crops in the soil, it is necessary to use optimal placement height of the working organs, taking into account the initial breaking degree.