Potato production in the Russian Federation and in many countries of the world is important. In the public sector, potatoes are cultivated on farms, personal and subsidiary plots. In connection with the transition to market relations, the area for planting potatoes has sharply decreased, and as a result, the production of potato harvesting equipment. Therefore, an acute question arose of the further creation and production of the simplest potato harvesting equipment and the improvement of their new working bodies. Pre-harvest removal chopping tops occupies an important place in the technology of potato cultivation. During operation, it was noted that rotary machines have a number of disadvantages caused by the imperfection of the rotor design, its kinematic modes, insufficient balance and reliability. In order to eliminate these shortcomings, a rotary topper with a vertical axis of rotation was designed and manufactured. To justify the design and operational parameters, theoretical studies of the process of interaction of the working element of the chopper with the tops of root crops were carried out, as a result of which the main patterns characterizing the working element were identified. In particular, dependence was obtained that allows to determine the cross-sectional diameter of the working element, which takes into account both the design parameters of the developed grinder and the properties of the tops. After calculating the obtained dependence, it was determined that for the operation of the unit with a minimum energy consumption, the diameter of the working element should be 6 mm. Such a working element cuts the tops in compliance with all agricultural requirements. Field experiments conducted later confirmed the obtained value, which indicates the reliability of the results.

Potato in the Russian Federation takes the second place after grain in its economic importance. In the public sector, potatoes are cultivated on farms, personal and subsidiary plots. In connection with the transition to market relations, the area for planting potatoes has sharply decreased, and as a result, the production of potato harvesting equipment. Therefore, the question arose of the further creation and production of the simplest potato harvesting equipment and the improvement of their new working units. Pre-harvest removal chopping tops occupies an important place in the technology of potato cultivation. The easiest way to remove the tops is mechanical. During operation, it was noted that rotary machines have a number of disadvantages caused by the imperfection of the rotor design, its kinematic regimes, insufficient balance and reliability. In order to eliminate these shortcomings, a rotary topper with a vertical axis of rotation was designed and manufactured. To justify the design and operational parameters, theoretical studies of the process of interaction of the working element of the chopper with the tops of root crops were carried out, as a result of which the main patterns characterizing the working element were identified. In particular, a dependence was obtained that allows one to determine the shape of the line of the working element, which takes into account both the design parameters and the operating modes of the developed haulm chopper. Due to the action of gravity and air resistance during rotation, the working element cannot be a straight rod, that is, the farther the point of the working element from the center of rotation, the more it will lag behind the intended straight line. The deviation value will be in direct proportion to the transverse size of the working element and inversely to the linear density of its material. The coefficient of air resistance is determined experimentally, due to the influence on its value of both the shape and structure of the surface of the working element, as well as humidity and air temperature.

Row and industrial crops in the overall structure of crop production occupy a significant share. A special role is assigned to the production of root and tuber crops. A distinctive feature of the technology of cultivation of root and tuber crops is that before or during harvesting the tops are removed. The article presents the results of experimental studies to substantiate and assess the effect of the kinematic operating mode of a rotary topper chopper on the completeness of removing the tops of root and tuber crops. As the factors determining the percentage of completeness of haulm removal, the rotor speed and the speed of the haulm chopper were chosen. These factors, along with the diameter of the cross-section of the working element, have the greatest influence on the quality of the implementation of the technological process of grinding the tops of potatoes with the simultaneous destruction of the larvae of the Colorado potato beetle. During the experiments, the methodology of the mathematical theory of planning experiments was used. To process the experimental results, we used the software developed by the authors in the Visual Basic for Aplications language in the MS Excel environment. With the help of the constructed mathematical model, the optimization problem was solved and the values of the operating parameters of the topper chopper were determined, which ensure the maximum percentage of the completeness of the haulm removal. The values of the operating parameters of the topper chopper, at which the highest percentage of haulm removal is achieved, turned out to be as follows: rotor speed -1750.340 min -1 ; speed of movement of the unit -2.922 m•s -1 .

The two-grade rotary chopper BIR-2 of root and tuber crops with flexible working elements is designed to remove the beets of vegetable leaves before or during the harvest of carrots. It is proposed to use it together with an undermining machine in an aggregate with a tractor of the 1.4 kN class of thrust with a front and rear hitch. In this case, the chopper of beets is hung on the front hitch of the power means, and the working units are driven in rotation by hydraulic motors, which allows the two unitized devices to operate independently of each other. Laboratory studies of the effect of rotational speed, type and diameter of the cross section of work items on the amplitude of their oscillations were carried out on the soil plots Kazan State Agrarian University. Several types of work items were used in the experiments: a rubberized metal cable, a rubber-fabric element, a fishing line. The approbation was carried out when removing the tops of carrots. At this stage of experimental studies, the rotational speed of the working unit was 700 min-1, and the onward speed was 2.5 m/sec. Later, for the experiments, the plasticine pins were made, using which, with the necessary accuracy, the lower and upper points of contact of the working element can be determined, which, in turn, makes it possible to calculate the amplitude of transverse oscillations as the difference between these points. The rotational speed of the working elements at this stage varied from 500 to 900 min-1, the cross-sectional diameter - from 5 to 7 mm. According to the test results, the most rational diameter of the working element, which is equal to 5.5 mm, was determined, the required cutting height of the carrot tops in accordance with agrotechnical requirements, which is 0 ... 20 mm at a frequency of rotation of the working elements 800 min-1. According to the testing results of the developed unit under production conditions, which were carried out in JSC “Kyrlay” of the Republic of Tatarstan, the rational speed of the unit movement was chosen, which amounted to 3.3 m/sec.