Design and Experimental Study of Key Components of the Samara-Hulling Machine for Eucommia ulmoides Oliver

In this article, a hammer-blade hulling machine for Eucommia ulmoides Oliver that solves the current industry problem of low hulling efficiency and high manual input in EUO samaras is described. Its main working components are a hulling device and a screening device. Discrete element simulation was used to simulate the hulling process of a EUO samara hulling machine, and a EUO samara bond model was used to simulate the crushing process. The optimal parameters of the huller were determined as follows: the spindle speed was 2800 r/min, the hammer length was 70 mm and the other mechanism parameters were determined according to the working processes of components. Before the prototype test, EUO samaras were pretreated via soaking and insolation. The soaking and insolation times were used as the influence factors when carrying out the test. Their effect on hulling efficiency was evaluated by calculating the yield rates of the kernels and shell and the loss rate. The results show that under the optimal pretreatment conditions, the parameters of the huller meet the requirements, and the yield rate of kernels is more than 28%, the yield rate of shells is more than 38%, and the loss rate is less than 7%. The test indexes meet the use requirements and improve the efficiency of the hulling of the EUO samara, which has the advantages of high efficiency and high hulling rates.