Design and Experimentation of Mountain-type Pre-cutting Sugarcane Planter and Its Key Components Based on DEM

In response to the lack of sugarcane planters in the hilly and mountainous areas of Yunnan Province, a new type of pre-cutting sugarcane planter suitable for hilly and mountainous operations was designed. Based on the operating process of the planter, the mechanical characteristics of the key component of the planter, the furrowing and soil covering device, were analysed, and a segmented plough wing was designed by using the flow characteristics of soil. Based on the discrete element method (DEM) and response surface method, a DEM model was established for the operation of the furrowing and soil covering device. The model investigated the effect of the parameters of the furrowing and soil covering device on the covering depth and operating resistance. Additionally, a regression model was obtained to analyse the relationship between the indicators and the factors. Design-Expert 12.0 software was used to optimize the parameters of the furrowing and covering device, aiming to minimize resistance and achieve the optimal soil covering depth range. The results showed that when the operational speed was 1.5 m/s, the depth of operation was 300 mm, the angle between the plough wings was 68.90°, the covering depth was 61.30 mm, and the operating resistance was 2110.37 N. Field experiments were conducted with the optimal combination of operating parameters. The average values of soil covering depth and operating resistance were 63.60 mm and 2514.11 N, and the relative errors were 3.75% and 19.13%, respectively. These research results can provide a reference for structural improvements to pre-cutting sugarcane planters and parameters control of the furrow opener.