Objective This article aims to address the challenges of upright sugarcane harvesting, specifically the lack of bundling mechanisms, which leads to large harvester sizes and difficulties in orderly collecting sugarcane on complex terrain.

Method A pre-baling device for vertical harvesting of whole-stalk sugarcane growing uprightly was designed. Based on multi-body dynamics analysis, simulation and bench test were used to quantify the pre-baling performance (centroid height of sugarcane and success rate of pre-baling) with different controlling factors (the height and rotational speed of the down rotational finger).

Result Both the height and speed of the down rotating finger significantly affected the success rate of pre-baling (P<0.05), and the results of the bench test were basically consistent with the simulation results. Among the 18 pre-baling modes, the mode with the 400 mm height of the down rotational finger and 300 r/min rotational speed achieved a 100% pre-baling success rate. During the pre-baling process, the centroid height of sugarcane showed a V-shaped dynamic, and the highest operational safety was achieved. H4n2 mode was recommended as the preferred mode.

Conclusion With a compact structure and high pre-baling success rate, the vertical pre-baling device designed by this study can fill the harvesting requirement of sugarcanes growing on hillside areas with complicated terrain conditions. The pre-baling mechanism explored by this study has wide reference value for other optimization design of combined sugarcane harvester.