Design and Testing of a Peanut Roller Digging Harvester

In order to solve the problems that arise from poor fruit–soil separation, a high fruit burial rate, and a high crushing rate during peanut harvesting under clay-heavy soil conditions, a multistage roller peanut harvester that is suitable for operation in these environments was designed. Considering the growth conditions of peanuts and the agronomic requirements of planting, the movement process and separation operation mechanism of the seedling and fruit–soil were analyzed, coupled with the vibrating excavation device and the conveying roller group. A dynamic model of seedling fruit–soil coupled throwing and soil collisions on the conveyor roller was constructed. The structure and maximum swing angle of the vibrating excavation device, the number of stages of the conveying roller group, the diameter of the throwing roller, and other parameters were determined through analyses. Utilizing the design results, a prototype was built, and a multifactor test for the operation parameters was carried out. The forward speed of the machine, the excavation depth, and the speed of the conveyor roller were used as the test factors. The fruit burial rate and the peanut crushing rate were used as the test indexes. The Box–Behnken test method was used to establish a regression equation between the factors and the test indexes, and the influence law of each factor on the peanut harvest index was determined. When the optimal parameters were combined, i.e., 1.0 m/s, 150 mm, and 80 r/min, the fruit burial rate and crushing rate of peanuts were 6.2% and 6.4%, respectively. The performance of the machine meets the design requirements, and our research results can provide a reference for the research of mechanized peanut harvesting technology and equipment.