International Scientific Journals
of Scientific Technical Union of Mechanical Engineering "Industry 4.0"

The results of a study of the shaking process of a walnut tree are presented. Shakers used in harvesting machines are specialized equipment that is attached to the tree trunk and generates controlled vibrations, causing the fruit to fall to the ground or into special catching devices. Thus, universal shakers for various types of nuts, including walnuts, almonds and hazelnuts, ensure fast and uniform harvesting without significant damage to the trees. When harvesting nuts by shaking, the dynamic properties of the trees are important. Therefore, it is necessary to calculate the natural frequency of the system’s oscillations, and it plays a key role in the occurrence of the resonance effect.Thus, during the shaking process, the natural frequency of the system includes the tree and other elements interacting with it, which makes it possible to determine the optimal operating modes of the vibrators to ensure the required completeness of fruit removal with the least energy expenditure. For this purpose, the Euler-Bernoulli theory is used, according to which, when solving a dynamic equation for specific fastening conditions, the natural frequencies and corresponding vibration modes are determined, at which the beam oscillates without external forces.

The results of tribological tests of the active area of harrow disks with coatings obtained by the plasma spay thermal method are presented. This study is based on scanning electron microscopy of coated harrow disc samples undergoing standard tribological tests that focuses on the mechanical properties of coatings using tribological methodology. Tribological studies were conducted to determine the following main parameters of the harrow disc material such as: adhesion to the substrate, coefficient of friction, Young’s modulus, stiffness and hardness of coated samples and the base material. As the result, improving the mechanical and chemical properties of materials used to manufacture the working bodies of coated harrow discs allows for increased resistance to abrasive wear in modern agricultural machinery.

This study presents a comparative analysis of three types of coatings taken from the active area of the coted harrow disks using atmospheric plasma spray deposition method (APS). The resulting coatings increase the durability of the harrow discs and the inclusion in the componence of coatings of carbides and powdered ceramic compounds will enhance the mechanical characteristics. This study focused on scanning electron microscopy of the coated samples from the harrow discs and their tribological properties. SEM imaging and EDS analysis have been carried out to clarify the morphological characteristics and study of disc cross-section. Tribological tests were carried out to determine the following main parameters: adhesion to the substrate, coefficient of friction (COF), modulus of elasticity and hardness of the material.
The development and implementation of modern technologies for improving the mechanical and chemical properties of materials for
coated harrow discs will increase resistance to abrasive wear in modern agricultural conditions.

The article identifies the main current problems of walnut cultivation technology and analyzes of existing technologies and machines for harvesting fruits, including nut crops.
As a result of the research, the main directions for improving the technology of growing walnuts by improving the technological and technical parameters of the design of machines and equipment for harvesting walnuts were proposed and hypotheses were put forward for their improvement, in particular, a machine equipped with a bar for shaking fruits and a catcher, which is designed to collect fruits and partial destruction of the green pericarp of the walnut fruit.