Potato harvester performance with automatic chain-load control.

ABSTRACT THIS paper reports the performance of a potato harvester equipped with a system for controlling the depth of material on the primary chain by automatically adjusting chain speed. The system provides uniform flow of material from the primary to the secondary chain over a wide variety of field conditions and ground speeds, eliminates soil earlier in the harvester, delivers cleaner, higher-quality tubers and can significantly increase harvester productivity. Results show that primary-chain soil-load had no effect on tuber damage at the top of the elevator, and that heavier tuber loads on the rear-cross and elevator chains resulted in less tuber damage.