Development and modeling of a slope insensitive combine cleaning shoe

An experimental cleaning shoe was developed to compensate for sloped land by adjustment of shake speed, fan speed, and shake geometry. Grain loss on the cleaning shoe decreased compared to a conventional cleaning shoe exposed to similar conditions. Average grain losses of 0.710% and 6.560% on 5- and 10-degree side slopes in corn were reduced to 0.118% and 0.256% on the same side slopes using only modified shake geometry. Similar reductions in grain loss were seen in wheat, from 7.521% and 15.272% on both side slopes to 3.941% and 4.722% using only modified shake geometry. Grain loss prediction models were developed for each crop with R2 values of 0.8111 and 0.8440. Through modification of fan and shake speeds and shake geometry to field conditions, grain loss reduced from averages of 1.276% to 0.675