Investigation of the Traveling Performance of the Tracked Chassis of a Potato Combine Harvester in Hilly and Mountainous Areas

Aiming at the problems of poor passability of a tracked chassis due to small plots, complicated road conditions and steep slopes during mechanized potato harvesting in hilly and mountainous areas. To design a potato combine harvester and take the tracked chassis of the harvester as the research object to study its driving performance under typical road conditions in mountainous areas. Firstly, mechanical analysis and theoretical calculation are carried out on the tracked chassis to obtain the relevant parameters of key components, and secondly, its driving performance is analyzed to obtain the driving limit values of passing performance under different working conditions: RecurDyn software was used to establish the dynamics simulation and analysis model of the whole machine, and the driving limit values of the harvester were determined under five different road conditions through simulation. The results show the following: the driving limit gradient angle is 20&deg: in cross-gradient conditions, 25&deg: in longitudinal up-gradient conditions, 25&deg: in longitudinal down-gradient conditions, the limiting height of the chassis that can be overpassed in obstacle-crossing conditions is 450 mm, and the limiting width of the chassis that can be spanned in trench-crossing conditions is 1200 mm. The simulation results were verified through field tests, and the results of the field tests showed that the harvester met the requirements of stable travelling on longitudinal slopes of 24&deg:, climbed over a 450 mm straight wall and crossed over a 1200 mm trench, which were similar to the simulation results, indicating that the simulation results were accurate and feasible, and met the design requirements for the travelling passage of the crawler potato harvester. This study provides an in-depth understanding of the tracked chassis of the potato combine harvester in hilly mountainous areas, with a view to providing reference for the design of tracked harvesters for other crops in hilly mountainous areas.