Design of Small Sorghum Harvesting Equipment Based on PLC for the Zunyi Mountainous Area

Abstract

In order to meet the needs of mechanized harvesting of sorghum in the complex terrain of Zunyi Mountains, an integrated and automated small-scale sorghum harvesting equipment was designed. The equipment adopts crawler walking mechanism and DC brushless motor drive system, which can adapt to the 25° steep slope working environment, the weight of the whole machine is 400kg, and the maximum speed of climbing and flat slope is 0.78m/s and 1.1m/s respectively. It has the function of 1000mm wide harvesting table and integrated harvesting and threshing, and the theoretical feeding volume reaches 1663.2kg/h, which significantly improves the operation efficiency. Through the PLC control system to achieve automatic operation, programming control forward, backward, steering and threshing drum forward and reverse functions, and equipped with HMI touch screen human-computer interaction interface, real-time status monitoring and parameter adjustment. Combined with the compact body design, it adapts to the flexible transfer of narrow terraces. The equipment provides lightweight and cost-effective mechanization solutions for small plot sorghum planting areas, which has important reference significance for promoting the development of agriculture in Zunyi area.