China's rice cultivation from the south to the north has a wide geographical distribution and great differences in climatic conditions, thus forming a very complex farming system and variety system. The rice planting methods are diverse and complex, resulting in great differences in planting systems, harvesting time, rice varieties, etc., and various requirements for rice production machinery.
At present, mechanical harvesting of rice is mainly divided into batch harvesting and joint harvesting. In the staged harvesting, windrowers, balers, and threshers are mainly used; combined harvesting uses full-feeding, half-feeding, and combing-out three-category combine harvesters. In Europe and America, more wheat is grown, and rice harvesting is mostly accomplished by adding or changing some components on the wheat harvesting machine. European and American models use full feed threshing, large models, high productivity, suitable for large-scale production conditions. Japan is dominated by rice, and the combined harvesting machinery mainly focuses on harvesting rice and wheat crops. Most of its models use half-feed threshing, and the models are small and have low productivity, which is suitable for operating decentralized and small field paddy fields. The mainstream models in China's market are self-propelled, self-propelled, half-feed rice combine harvesters.
China's rice harvester is developing rapidly
China's rice harvesting machinery has reached more than 800,000 units, of which rice harvesting mechanization level reached 56%, the rice combine harvester market has matured. The full feed rice combine harvester is developed in China. Full feed is inferior to semi-feeding in performances such as de-purification rate, cleanliness, and loss rate, but it is the main model on the market because of its low price and high productivity. The half-feeding rice combine harvester in our country is developing slowly. Many companies have introduced and digested Japanese and Korean technologies and made localization transformations. At present, there are many domestic manufacturers of half-feeders. The products are equivalent to foreign machines in terms of performance and can meet the requirements, but there is a large gap in reliability.
In 2009, China's rice combine harvester market developed rapidly and market competition intensified. Japanese and Korean brands account for a large share of the half-feed harvester market. Among them, Kubota is more than 70%. After several years of attempts, South Korea’s Datong gradually increased the scale of its capital operations and formed two production bases in Nanjing and Anhui. It entered the first camp of the semi-feeder. The domestically produced half-feeder brands have been aggressively seizing the market, ending the oligopoly market for foreign brands and ushering in an era of multi-polar market competition. Taizhou Fengling has been undertaking the national semi-feeding harvester R&D project since the 1980s, and proposed the goal of creating a domestic half-feeding harvester with a price of less than 100,000 yuan, further improving the right to speak of the localized half-feeder. Taizhou Yucheng Group also developed at an extremely fast pace. Tianzuo's half-feeders have gradually expanded their competitiveness. Foton Lovol cooperated with the Nanjing Institute of Agricultural Mechanization to infiltrate the semi-feed harvester manufacturing field.
In 2009, sales of semi-feeding harvesters reached 13,500 units, and nearly 40,000 units of rice harvesters were fed. Kubota sold 6,659 semi-feeders, an increase of 35% year-on-year. In 2010, Kubota expects to sell 6,600 half-fed feeders. Japan's Jingguan Company sells half-feeding harvesters 1,000. Jiangsu Fengling sells 2,000 semi-feeding machines. Foton Lovol sold 13200 rice harvesters and had a market share of 34%. In 2010, the scale of national agricultural machinery purchase subsidy funds has increased, the state's policy of supporting agriculture and supporting agriculture has continued to strengthen, and the market environment for rice harvesting machinery will be getting better. It is estimated that in 2010, the national semi-feeding rice harvester market will need more than 22,000 units, the total feeding of rice harvesters is expected to be 35,000 units, and half-feeders will account for 38% of the rice combine harvesters.
Half-feeding models can adapt to the vast majority of rice production areas in China and are the most popular models for farmers in rice production areas. It has the characteristics of small loss rate, low impurity rate, high production efficiency, easy handling of straw, and good passability. It is particularly suitable for single-season rice where the yield and culm are relatively high, and the harvest season has more lodging and requires the preservation of intact stems. Half-feed combine harvesters will share the world with fully fed rice machines. As the market continues to grow at a high rate, competition will be more intense, product prices will be further reduced, profit margins will decline, and the popularized area will be more extensive. Bipolar development will become the main theme for the development of half-feed harvesters, and the demand for two- and half-feeding harvesters and large semi-feed harvesters of more than 100 hp will gradually expand. Half-feed harvesters that are developed in the future should also be able to harvest wheat, rapeseed, and soybeans to achieve multiple uses.
The advantages and disadvantages of various rice harvester technologies
Full feed rice harvester. Whether it is a full feeder or a half feeder, the threshing separation and cleaning device is the core working part of the combine harvester, and its working index directly affects the performance of the whole machine. The threshing device currently has the forms of shear flow, transverse axial flow, longitudinal flow, shear flow, and axial flow. John Deere, New Holland and Klass and other foreign large-scale combine harvesting machine manufacturers have developed advanced combined flow and longitudinal flow combined threshing separation devices. The cut-flow threshing device adopts a large gap and a low rotation speed structure, and can first take off the easily-off grains in the crop to reduce the rate of grain breakage. The hard-to-seed grains in the crop enter the longitudinal axis flow roller for recovery. Due to the high rotational speed of the longitudinal axis flow drum, the threshing ability is stronger. The drum is arranged along the longitudinal direction of the machine, and the logistics path is longer, which can ensure that the grain can be fully threshed and separated, effectively reducing the entrainment loss and improving the de-purification rate. Therefore, the device can meet the requirements of large feed rates, high-efficiency and high-performance operations. In addition, it can meet the requirements of a variety of crops harvest operations, adaptability. The research on the vertical flow combine harvester in China is in its infancy. A few manufacturers have developed a straight-out longitudinal flow combine harvester that allows the material to directly enter the longitudinal flow threshing drum through the trough. The cleaning device currently consists of three methods: fan selection, screening, fan plus screening.
Half fed rice harvester. Half-feed harvesters have complex manufacturing techniques and require many breakthroughs in basic manufacturing technology. Although it has experienced various forms of development such as wholly foreign-owned investment, Sino-foreign joint ventures, research and development imitation, etc., China has not achieved the goal of changing the technology of the semi-feeding machine to the market. The key manufacturing technology is still controlled by Japanese and Korean companies, and the localization process is slow.
Semi-feeding harvester threshing device has two methods: flat feed, up and down, and flat feed. Both Kubota and Yanmar use a secondary off-axis threshing mechanism for axial flow, and the cleanup part is used for air cleaning and vibratory cleanup. The air flow cleanup uses a double-acting air blower and a suction blower. The threshing threshing type has better threshing performance and is mainly applicable to horizontal headers. At present, the vertical header is used on the half-feed harvester, and an upside-down threshing device cannot be used.
The semi-feeding machine has advanced technology, compact structure, reliable performance and convenient operation. Hydraulic transmission is widely used in the transmission part to achieve stepless speed change. Turning now to the use of a constant drive structure, the left and right track differential or reverse reverse movement is performed at the same time, so that the combine can be gently steered or rapidly rotated in place. The engine of the semi-feeder uses a direct-injection high-speed diesel engine. Domestic half-feeders currently use a large number of domestic diesel engines, such as Changchai Diesel 4L68. Imported Japanese and Korean diesel engines generally have the characteristics of strong power, small size, light weight, and stable performance and quality.
The main part of the manufacturing of the semi-feeder is the header, threshing, engine, gearbox, electronic control device, crawler and other components, which have already been realized in China. Corian in Guangzhou specializes in the production of headers and threshing parts. Diesel engines in Xinchai, Zhejiang also have a large number of applications. The transmission gearbox of Hangzhou Gearbox is widely installed on a half-feeder. The quality of the HST system designed and produced by Guihang has steadily increased and it has reached the technological level of Korean products. Zhejiang Heli's HST valve system has been widely used on the half-feeder. The rubber track also achieved localization breakthrough in Wuxi, Jiangsu. The two main problems that domestic half-feed harvesters need to solve are: reducing entrainment losses and improving work efficiency, which is also an important issue for foreign brand products in the Chinese market.
New Trends of Japanese and Korean Enterprises in China
Japan Jingguan Company invested in Changzhou in 2004 to build an assembly plant. Jingguan Agricultural Machinery entered the Chinese market later than Kubota, so its market share is lower than that of Kubota, but its product technology level does not lag behind Kubota. Many of Kubota's and Yanmar's technologies are derived from well-related patents. Jingguan's threshing device is the most advanced and is the most efficient and the best. Jingguan's HF608 has three threshing rollers for excellent threshing. Especially when harvesting japonica rice, the cleanliness of Jingguan is better than Kubota and Yanmar. Jingguan currently cooperates with the China Agricultural Machinery Research Institute to produce half-feed harvesters at Changchun’s Zhongji North Machinery Manufacturing Co., Ltd. to develop the northern market.
Japan’s Mitsubishi Agricultural Machinery Corporation and India’s Mahindra have established a joint venture in India in 2010 to build agricultural machinery manufacturing plants, produce rice transplanters and plan to export to China. Mitsubishi Agricultural Machinery has not yet set up factories in China. Mitsubishi agricultural machinery has mature electromechanical hydraulic manufacturing technology and rice machinery manufacturing process.
Datong Agricultural Machinery Co., Ltd. is Korea's largest integrated agricultural machinery manufacturing company. In 2003, it established the wholly-owned Datong Agricultural Machinery Nanjing Co., Ltd., and recently established the Quanjiao Co., Ltd. in Anhui Province to expand the scale of agricultural machinery manufacturing and create a comprehensive agricultural machinery manufacturing base. Datong Agricultural Machinery's products are currently still small in the Chinese market, with sales volume lower than Japan's Kubota and Jingguan.
Korea International Comprehensive Machinery Co., Ltd. sells its products in the Chinese market and is currently preparing to reorganize Changchun Changtu Group to establish a product manufacturing R&D base in China.
Advice on the development of a rice harvester
Improve product reliability. Domestic rice harvesters, especially half-feed harvesters, have been comparable to Japanese and Korean branded products in terms of product performance, but there is a large gap in reliability. Many users are attracted by factors such as high performance-price ratio of domestic machines and easy access to accessories when purchasing a machine. However, because they are concerned that the failure of products in use will affect profits, they eventually chose foreign brands. Domestic manufacturers should increase technological R&D, obtain technological breakthroughs in key manufacturing processes, improve the level of manufacturing processes, and enhance product market competitiveness in order to cope with the complex and ever-changing market competition situation.
Tractors and harvesters work together. In the field of agricultural machinery manufacturing, tractors and combine harvesters are often closely linked. Both have great similarities in the use of objects, marketing channels, manufacturing process technology, product development, and market competition. Looking at the giants of agricultural machinery both at home and abroad, all along with the development of tractor products, harvesting machinery is also the focus of development. Deere, Case New Holland, Aike Group, Foton Lovol and other companies have all maintained strategies for the simultaneous development of tractors and harvesting machinery products to create a synergistic competitive advantage. Many domestic agricultural machinery manufacturing companies, such as Dongfeng Agricultural Machinery and Changfa Group, are also entering the field of harvesting machinery. Maintaining the coordinated development of the harvesting machinery and tractor industry is an inevitable choice for the sustainable development of Chinese agricultural machinery manufacturing companies in the future.
Product innovation continues. The rice harvesting machinery market will further develop towards diversification, and product demand will be more diversified. Kubota realized the importance of product innovation earlier and launched a two-line half-feed harvester and a five-line half-feed harvester in the hills and mountains, occupying market opportunities. Domestic rice harvesters only focus on product imitation and have a slow pace in product innovation. They should catch up and reduce the gap with Japanese and Korean companies.
Going abroad to open up the international market. The domestic agricultural machinery has a strong manufacturing capability, and the products have been verified through complex and diverse regional use, have strong adaptability, and are fully equipped to exploit the international market. However, over the years, our country's harvesters have not succeeded in going abroad and occupying a place in the international market. Japanese and South Korean companies use China's cheap labor market to create low-cost rice harvesting machines and export them in large quantities around the world. In 2009, Kubota supplied 4482 full-harvested harvesters, mainly for export, accounting for half of China's export of harvesting machinery. Domestic rice harvesting machinery will open up a long way to the international market.
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