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A vibrating digger blade with one input to move the blade horizontally and one input to move the rear of the blade vertically was tested to determine a mode of vibration that would produce the most effect on the soil at acceptable torque and power inputs. A kinematic and dynamic simulation program which accounted for the frictional and inertial effects of the moving parts of the machine and a block of soil on the blade was written and used to help decide which independent parameters and their levels to use in a field test program. The optimum combination of elements yielded by the study for use in a commercial digger design was an eccentricity of 9.52 mm for horizontal movement, an eccentricity of 12.7 mm for vertical movement, and an operating velocity ratio of 1.0.1

The evolution of an experimental prototype vibrating digger blade for harvesting root crops is described. The prototype had two independent oscillatory inputs, one to vibrate the whole blade horizontally and another to vibrate the rear edge vertically. It was to be used in later field experiments to determine the effect of changing directions of vibration on the dependent variables of draft, torque, and soil break-up. Torque measurements were made in the laboratory for eccentricities of 0.0, 9.53, and 12.70 mm and frequencies of 6.96, 9.28, 10.44, 13.92, 15.66, and 20.89 Hz, the range of these variables which would subsequently be used in field tests. The outputs of two computer simulation programs, one written by Rodriguez and a commercial software mechanisms analysis program, compared favorably with the measured laboratory results. 1