The Effect of Knife Clearance on the Machine Performance in Disc Type Silage Machines

Abstract

In this study, active knife and fixed knife of single-row disc silage machine has three different clearance C₁, C₂ and C₃ (1, 3 and 5 mm) and it is tried in three different working speed V₁, V₂  and V₃ (1.8, 2.5 and 3.7 km / h) and PTO speed (540 min-1) and machine's fuel consumption (l/h), average power consumption (kW), field energy consumption (kW/da), product energy consumption (kW/t), field working capacity (da/h), product  working capacity (t/h) and Chopping size distribution characteristics of the fragmented material were determined. 

It has been found that knife-counter knife clearances smaller than 3 mm
(1 mm) and larger (5 mm) have a negative effect on machine performance in general. In terms of fuel and power consumptions, the most suitable combination of work was C₂V₁, and in terms of field-product energy consumption, C₂V₃ combination was found to be optimal. The highest field-product working capacity was achieved at the V₃ working speed. In terms of silage mincer size, all working combinations gave the appropriate shredding length distribution; especially the 1st knife-counter knife clearance (1 mm) was determined to give a more suitable Chopping size distribution in terms of animal feeding. In the second clearance (3mm), both the energy consumption and the Chopping size distribution were positive.