Simulation and modal analysis of the uplift device of a sugarcane harvester using virtual prototype technology

A three-dimensional model of the uplift device of a sugarcane harvester was built up in Pro/Engineer. Simulation and evaluation of its motional and dynamic performance were performed with the automatic dynamic analysis of mechanical system (ADAMS). ANSYS program was applied to the structural analysis of the model. A finite element analytic model was built up with the bottom-up methodology and was meshed. The default Block Lanczos method was used to work out the native frequency. The results indicate that the five lower modes-the transpotaion wheel, the left holding device, the right holding device, the left cutter disk, and the right cutter disk- and displacement of vibratory type only slightly affect the process of sugarcane harvester and harvesting quality. So it is advisable that the optimization of the static intensity other than the dynamic stiffness of uplift device be executed.