UDC 631.356.43
DOI 10.36461/NP.2026.77.1.019
POTATO DIGGER FOR STONE MOUNTAIN SOILS
L. R. Gulueva, Research Associate
North Caucasian Research Institute of Mountain and Piedmont Agriculture – Branch of the Federal State Budgetary Institution of Science “Vladikavkaz Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences”, Mikhailovskoye, Russia, e-mail:
This article describes a tractor-mounted KTN-2V potato digger, equipped with modernized working elements and components for operations in stone mountain soil. The technology and design documentation have been developed, and a laboratory prototype of the modernized device has been manufactured. Technical examination and testing of the experimental potato digger unit were carried out in September in two variants at the experimental plot of the North Caucasian Research Institute of Mountain and Piedmont Agriculture (NCRI MPA) during the potato harvest period: Variant I was carried out in areas without any weeds, and Variant II – under conditions of high weed infestation, tested at multiple forward speed of the MTZ-82 tractor. The test condition parameters and functional indicators of the unit were determined. Current research deals with the technology, the unit design, and working elements: the design of the main conveyor, the mounting of the digging shares, and the determination of soil infestation degree with weeds and stones. The research is relevant because the rigid mounting of the digging shares was replaced by the potato digger frame with a floating one, i.e., utilizing shock-absorbing rubber mounts; furthermore, the main conveyor design of the KTN-2V potato digger was replaced with a chain separator consisting of round links connected in both longitudinal and transverse directions. It was noted that the laboratory prototype of the device satisfies the agrotechnical requirements (ATR) and the technical specifications (TS). The following results were determined: the test conditions for the laboratory prototype of the improved potato digger, the degree of plot infestation with weeds and stones, and the operating depth of the shares. As a result, a laboratory prototype of the innovative potato digger has been developed and manufactured, which could increase wear resistance, reliability, durability of the working elements, operational productivity to 1.25 ha/h due to improved harvest quality, and reduce the metal consumption of the components when operating on heavy and rocky soils.
Keywords: mountain, slope, mechanization, potato digger, digging share, chain separator, stone.
Publication information View article