Design and Test of Self-Leveling System for Cleaning Screen of Grain Combine Harvester

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The comments and suggestions are given in the attached file

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The aim of this article was to design s self-leveling cleaning screen device to reduce the leaning loss for a combine harvester. The whole structure of the manuscript is clear with useful figures and tables. The results provide useful information for the combine harvester. However, the work is not yet ready for publication, there are several things that need to be clarified though before the manuscript is reconsidered for publication.

1.      L47-L57 Please rewrite these sentences. There are too many sentences which used the person’s name as subject.

2.      L77-L83 The name of parts and units used in figure 1 should the same name of the text. In addition, the pixel in figure 1, 2, 3, 4… need improves.

3.      L99 changed the ‘figure 3’ to figure 2.

4.      L157-L159 Please rewrite this sentence?

5.      L163 Please use full name for ‘ADC’, ‘PWM’, ‘PID’… when they appeared at the first time.

6.      L216 What is the range of ‘n value’? If there are someone selected ‘4’ for ‘n’?

7.      L237 Please rewrite the graph title for figure 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13. Please provide more information in the graph title.

8.      L365-L366 ‘Set the operation speed of the harvester to the middle gear’ what speed was obtained when the operation speed of the harvester was set to the middle gear? How many gears are there in the harvester?

9.      How to measure the cleaning loss?

10.  How many times did you conducted each experiment. The results in table 6 should provide as the average value＋standard deviation.

11.  For a scientific paper, the methods and the results should separate into two sections.

Author Response

1. L48-L58 These sentences have been rewritten.
2. The name in Figure 1 has been modified to correspond to the text. And the pixel in figure 1, 2, 3, 4… has been improved.
3. L102 the ‘figure 3’ has been changed to figure 2.
4. L159-L163 These sentences have been rewritten.
5. L70, L166, L174 The full name of the abbreviation has been added.
6. L249 In this paper, the n value takes 4.
7. These titles have been rewritten.
8. The operation speed has little impact on the cleaning loss, which is not the focus of this paper, so it only needs to use a fixed value.
9. The determination of cleaning loss was carried out in accordance with the agricultural industry standard of the People's Republic of China - Technical Specification for Quality Evaluation of Rape Combine Harvester (NY/T 1231-2006) and the agricultural machinery extension appraisal outline issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the Contract Law of the People's Republic of China - Rape Combine Harvester (DG/T 057-2011).
10. Experimental data has been added to Table 7 and Table 8.
11. The methods and the results have been separated.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

General Comments:

Aiming at the problem of high cleaning loss rate caused by the tilt of the fuselage of grain combine harvester in hilly and gentle slope areas, the self-leveling system for cleaning screen was designed and the leveling speed of the system under traditional PID control and fuzzy PID control was studied. Through the simulation tests, response tests, comparison tests, and field tests, the leveling effect of self-leveling system for the cleaning screen was verified. This research is of great significance to reduce the cleaning loss of combine harvester and improve its performance.

Specific comments:

However, there may be questions as follows:

1. The expressions of Lines 77 and 89 (inclination sensor, rotating shaft) and the words of Figure 1 (Angle sensor, Rotation axis) are not unified, so we suggest that they should be unified. In addition, it might be better to describe these parts in different colors and add their moving directions in Figure 1.

2. It is recommended to check the contents of the diagram carefully. For example, Figure 2(Harvester titles or not) coincides with the flow chart frame line, the connecting line from (Wait for processing) to (Communication is normal?) in Figure 4 is broken, and the legend of Figure 9 obscures the figure, etc. In addition, we suggest that the end of the abscissa of Figure 11 should be marked with a scale or an arrow.

3. In Figure 9, it can be seen that the tracking effect of the control system is really good when the inclination amplitude is within 10°, but why the tracking effect is affected after the time is more than 70 seconds. It is suggested that the author make further analysis.

4. The cleaning loss of the vibrating screen is mentioned in Line 370, and the specific test results are also shown in Table 6, but the author should give a specific explanation of the experimental process and show the process data.

5. We think that the content of Figure 12 can be further optimized, with necessary textual explanations.

6. The data valid bits in Table 6 are not unified. In Table 6, some data are three-digit effective data, but 6.8 is two-digit effective data. We want authors to unify the format.

7. Are the 4.1 System test, 4.2 System leveling response test, and 4.3 Static contrast test all completed on the test bench? The author should add pictures of the experiment with the test bench in the text.

Author Response

1. The name in Figure 1 has been modified to correspond to the text. 
2. The problems on the figure have been corrected.
3. This might be the hysteresis effect caused by machinery exceeding the adjustment range after the time is more than 70 seconds.
4. The determination of cleaning loss was carried out in accordance with the agricultural industry standard of the People's Republic of China - Technical Specification for Quality Evaluation of Rape Combine Harvester (NY/T 1231-2006) and the agricultural machinery extension appraisal outline issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the Contract Law of the People's Republic of China - Rape Combine Harvester (DG/T 057-2011).
5. Added some text information to Figure 12(now Figure 14).
6. Experimental data has been added to Table 7 and Table 8. And the format has been unified.
7. 4.1 System test, 4.2 System leveling response test, and 4.3 Static contrast test all completed on the test bench. And the picture of the test bench now is shown in Figure 9.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf