Abstract:In response to the obvious shortcomings of traditional Panax notoginseng stem and leaf harvesting machine cutting blades in sliding cutting resistance reduction and blade edge sharpness, taking the upper jaw structure characteristics of leaf cutting ants as a biomimetic prototype, reverse engineering technology was used to extract the upper jaw contour curve of leaf cutting ants. Two different bionic cutting blades, A and B, were designed based on the sharp end of the cutting tooth tip and the upper jaw contour curve of leaf cutting ants;EDEM simulation and bench comparison experiments were conducted, and the simulation results showed that the average maximum shear forces of bionic blades A and B were reduced by 7.74% and 3.07% compared with that of traditional blades, respectively. The bench test results showed that the average maximum shear force of bionic blades A and B was reduced by 8.84% and 2.53% compared with that of traditional blades, respectively, and bionic blades A and B had a significant effect on improving the flatness of the transverse cutting surface of Panax notoginseng stem. The maximum shear force errors measured by the three blade simulation tests and bench tests were all not more than 3.64%, and the simulation test results were basically consistent with the actual test results. Using blade shape, cutting angle, and cutting speed as experimental factors, an orthogonal experiment was conducted to determine the optimal parameter combination as bionic blade A, cutting angle 0°, and cutting speed 400mm/min. Based on the optimal parameter combination, field experiments were conducted, and the results showed that the average intact rate of harvesting Panax notoginseng stems and leaves was 97.37%, which was 2.01 percentage points higher than that of traditional blades. The average missed cutting rate was 2.64%, which was 1.46 percentage points lower than that of traditional blades. This indicated that the bionic blade designed with the sharp end of the cutting teeth on the upper jaw of the leaf cutting ant can effectively improve the operational performance of the Panax notoginseng harvester.
