Objective  In response to the problem of high moisture content of seed and straw, high bonding force between seed and rice spike at the first harvest season of ratooning rice, there will lead to large amount of broken seeds when harvested by harvesters with traditional rigid rod-tooth threshing device, a rigid-flexible coupled rod-tooth threshing drum based on the axial flow threshing drum was designed.

Method  The EDEM discrete element simulation software was used to simulate the threshing process, and the average normal striking force and tangential kneading force of three different rod teeth (rigid, flexible, and rigid-flexible coupling) on seeds were obtained through post-processing. Using entrapment loss, breakage rate and unclean rate as the evaluation indexes, the orthogonal bench validation tests were carried out with different drum speed as single factor, and three factors (drum speed, seed moisture content, and rod teeth type) and three levels.

Result  The EDEM simulation results showed that the average normal striking force and tangential kneading force of the three types of rod teeth on seeds were the largest for the rigid rod teeth and the smallest for the flexible rod teeth at the drum speeds of 650, 750 and 850 r/min, respectively. The results of single-factor test showed that the broken rate of seeds threshed by the rigid rod tooth threshing device was significantly higher than those of the flexible rod tooth and the rigid-flexible coupling threshing devices. The broken rates of the flexible rod tooth, rigid rod tooth and rigid-flexible coupling rod tooth were very high at 900 r/min, with the broken rates of 1.632%, 1.925% and 2.564%, respectively. The unthawed rate and the entrained loss rate of the flexible rod tooth threshing device were significantly higher than those of the rigid rod tooth and the rigid-flexible coupling threshing devices. The unthreshing rates of the flexible rod tooth, rigid rod tooth and rigid-flexible coupling rod tooth were very low at 900 r/min, with the unthreshing rates of 0.286%, 0.071% and 0.240%, respectively. The entrainment loss rate of the flexible rod tooth, rigid rod tooth and rigid-flexible coupling rod tooth were very low at 850 r/min, with the entrainment loss rates of 1.595%, 0.729% and 1.341%, respectively. The results of orthogonal test showed that the order of factor affecting seed entrainment loss and broken rate was rod tooth type > drum speed > seed moisture content, and the order of factor affecting the uncleaned rate was rod tooth type > seed moisture content > drum speed.

Conclusion  Under the same conditions, the rigid-flexible coupling threshing device can reduce the rice breaking rate while ensuring the seed removal rate. The results can provide a reference for design and application of threshing device of harvester for ratooning rice.