THEORETICAL SUBSTANTIATION OF THE PARAMETERS OF CUTTING WORKING ELEMENTS OF A COTTON TOPPING APPARATUS FOR COTTON CULTIVATED UNDER INTENSIVE TECHNOLOGY USING A TWIN-ROW PLANTING SCHEME

The article presents a theoretical justification of the parameters of the working elements of a cutting apparatus for mechanical cotton topping under intensive cultivation with a 76  double- 10cm row planting scheme. It is shown that under double-row planting, one rotor interacts simultaneously with cotton plants in two rows; therefore, the number of blades, rotational speed, blade-tip speed, spacing of cutting traces, rotor radius, and hydraulic drive power must be determined with regard to the two-row technological load. Based on the analysis of sources, it was established that the diameter of the upper cotton stem in the topping zone mainly ranges from 3,5to 4,8mm , while a range of 4 6mm is reasonable for design calculations with a safety margin. Theoretical calculations showed that at an operating speed of 1,4 1,7m s , a two-blade rotor operating at 450rpm is insufficient for high-quality topping. For a four-blade rotor, the following rational parameters were justified: rotational speed of 600 750rpm , rotor radius of 0,18 0,22m , and blade-tip speed of 11 17m /s.