Optimal design and test of the flexible clamping device for safflower

Authors

  • Shuangping Yang 1. College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, China 2. Key Laboratory of Xinjiang Intelligent Agricultural Equipment, Urumqi 830052, China
  • Zhenguo Zhang 1. College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, China
  • Gang Guo 1. College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, China
  • Yi Zhang 1. College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, China
  • Shilong Qiu 1. College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, China
  • Yunxia Ye 1. College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, China

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25165/ijabe.v18i3.8536

Keywords:

agricultural engineering, safflower, harvest, clamping, test

Abstract

Aiming to address the issues of inconvenience and low efficiency associated with manual harvesting of safflower silk and the high damage rate of cutting harvesting machinery, the effect of manual grasping and drawing was simulated and a safflower drawing and harvesting device was designed based on flexible clamping. A quadratic regression orthogonal rotation combination design was implemented, adopting clamping frequency, spring installation angle, and flower board angle as factors while targeting removal and damage rates as performance metrics. Analysis identified clamping frequency as the predominant factor governing device recovery rate, with spring installation angle and flower board angle exerting secondary influence. Spring installation angle emerged as the dominant factor affecting device damage rate, followed sequentially by flower board angle and clamping frequency. The optimal parameters of the harvesting device are as follows: clamping frequency of 50 times/min, initial installation angle of the spring of 3.2°, and an initial angle of the flower board of 25°. Field tests with optimized parameters demonstrated a 96.28% removal rate and a 2.29% damage rate. The research findings can provide theoretical guidance for the structural design and optimization of the mechanized harvesting device for safflower filaments. Keywords: agricultural engineering, safflower, harvest, clamping, test DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20251803.8536 Citation: Yang S P, Zhang Z G, Guo G, Zhang Y, Qiu S L, Ye Y X. Optimal design and test of the flexible clamping device for safflower. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2025; 18(3): 19–24.

References

Delshad E, Yousefi M, Sasannezhad P, Rakhshandeh H, Ayati Z. Medical uses of Carthamus tinctorius L. (Safflower): a comprehensive review from traditional medicine to modern medicine. Electron Physician, 2018; 10(4): 6672-6681.

Yang Y, Huang X L, Jiang Z M, Keshang Aduma, Han Y C, Yu J, et al. New research progress for chemical compositions and pharmacological effect of carthamus tinctorius L. Chinese Archives of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2023; 41(10): 119-126.

Adamska I, Biernacka P. Bioactive substances in safflower flowers and their applicability in medicine and health-promoting foods. Int J Food Sci, 2021; 6657639. doi: 10.1155/2021/6657639.

Liu B B, Dong Y, Yao C, Jiang F Q. Survey on resource development of saffron in China. Chin J Mod App.Pharm, 2022; 39(13): 1783-1788.

Li D Z. Yumin County, Xinjiang: The safflower industry is booming. Farmers Daily, 2022-06-08(003) (in Chinese)

Zhou Y H, Guo J F, Ma X L et al. Research on current situation and development countermeasures of Xinjiang safflower production. Journal of Anhui Agricultural Sciences, 2021; 49(19): 199-201, 217. doi: 10.3969/j. issn.0517-6611.2021.19.052 (in Chinese)

Ge Y, Zhang L X, Han D D, Chen J P, Fu W. Current state and development trend of the mechanical harvesting on saffron filaments. Journal of Agricultural Mechanization Research, 2014; 11: 265-268.

Ge Y, Zhang L X, Gu J W, Fu W, Zhu R G, Zhang H M. Parameter optimization and experiment of dual roller harvesting device for safflower. Transactions of the CSAE, 2015; 31(21): 35-42.

Denarda A R, Bertetto A M, Carbone G. Designing a low-cost mechatronic device for semi-automatic saffron harvesting. Machines, 2021; 9(5): 94. doi: 10.3390/machines9050094

Yang H F. Research status of mechanized harvesting of safflower silk in Xinjiang. Agricultural mechanization in Xinjiang, 2020; 5: 34-37. doi:10.13620/j. cnki.issn1007-7782.2020. 05.009. (in Chinese)

Liu G X, Ge Y, Zhang L X, Zhao Q Z, Zhang T Y. Design of cutting safflower picking experiment platform and experimental study on picking performance. Machine Design and Research, 2019; 35(2): 178-183.

Jiao X P, Ge Y, Zhang L X, Liang D D, Liu G X, Zhang T Y. The design of the key components of the cutting device of cutting type safflower harvester. Machine design and research, 2017; 33(3): 161-164.

Zhang Z G, Zhao M, Xing Z Y, Liu X F. Design and test of double-acting opposite direction cutting end effector for safflower harvester. Transactions of the CSAM, 2022; 53(12): 160-170.

Zhang Z G, Lv Q G, Ren J Y, Han C J, Yuan P P, Zhang X J. Design of critical components for safflower harvesting machinery by rotary shear. Journal of Chinese Agricultural Mechanization, 2019; 40(7): 1-6.

Zhang X W, Ge Y, Chen F, Yu P F. Design of three-finger pull-out safflower picking end effector. Mechanical Design and Manufacturing, 2022; 1: 145-149.

Cao W B, Yang S P, Li S F, Jiao H B, Lian G D, Niu C, An L L. Parameter optimization of height limiting device for comb-type safflower harvesting machine. Transactions of the CSAE, 2019; 35(14): 48-56.

Cao W B, Lian G D, Niu C, An L L, Yang S P, Chen B B. Harvest performance test and parameter optimization of comb-type safflower-filaments picking head at same height. Transactions of the CSAE, 2018; 34(22): 36-44.

Zhang T Y, Zhang L X, Ge Y, Liu G X, Zhang X W. Development and test of a portable roller-type safflower harvester. Agricultural mechanization research, 2020; 42(3): 76-81.

Chen F, Ge Y, Zhang L X, Zhang X W, Xia Y Q. Simulation and optimization design and experiment of airflow field in safflower picking chamber. Journal of Jiangsu University (Natural Science Edition), 2021; 42(4): 414-420.

Hu Z Z. Design and research of pneumatic safflower cleaning device. Shihezi University, 2023. doi: 10.27332/d.cnki.gshzu.2022.000127. (in Chinese)

Wu D L, Yuan J H, Li C, Jiang S, Ding D, Cao C M. Design and experiment of twist-comb end effector for picking camellia fruit. Transactions of the CSAM, 2021; 52(4): 21-33.

Ma S J. Improvement design and experimental research on key components of tobacco leaf picking mechanism. Henan Agricultural University, 2022. doi: 10.27117/d.cnki.ghenu.2022.000447. (in Chinese)

Huang J C, Zhang B, Tian K P, Liu H L, Shen C. Design and optimization of the parameters of the key components for reed harvester. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2022; 15(6): 96-103.

Yuan J B, Wang J F, Li H, Qi X D, Wang Y J, Li C. Optimization of the cylindrical sieves for separating threshed rice mixture using EDEM. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2022; 15(2): 236-247.

Chen M Z, Xu G F, Wei M J, Li X W, Wei Y Z, Diao P S, et al. Optimization design and experiment on feeding and chopping device of silage maize harvester. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2023; 16(3): 64-77.

Zhang Z G, Zeng C, Xu P, Shi R M, Wang Y Z, Xing Z Y. Clamping root-cutting end-effector for harvesting fresh safflower. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2025; 18(2): 146-154.

Zhang Z G, Zeng C, Xing Z Y, Xu P, Guo Q F, Shi R M, et al. Discrete element modeling and parameter calibration of safflower biomechanical properties. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2024; 17(2): 37-46.

Downloads

Published

2025-06-30

How to Cite

Yang, S., Zhang, Z., Guo, G., Zhang, Y., Qiu, S., & Ye, Y. (2025). Optimal design and test of the flexible clamping device for safflower. International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, 18(3), 19–24. https://doi.org/10.25165/ijabe.v18i3.8536

Issue

Section

Applied Science, Engineering and Technology