Analysis of the process of green hemp stalks sequential harvesting

Abstract

HEMP (Cannabis Sativa - Industrial Hemp) is the industrial plant with the highest use of all these plants in the industry, since nothing is thrown away from this plant. Hemp is the plant of which everything is used, and the products obtained are of a great diversity, from the common rope to the medicinal or cosmetic substances, textiles, automotive or construction materials. It is an unpretentious plant because, apart from the fact that it wants a neutral PH and soils without excess humidity, no maintenance work need to be done and no extra care should be given. The fibre hemp is harvested at the technical maturity when the male plants shed the last pollen grains, and the stalks have a greenish-yellow colour and the leaves fell on the ground. Production management is different for an exclusive fibre production. If we look for raw materials that meet the demands of different areas of the economy with the lowest costs, we must take into account the reactivation of the hemp culture at the level of Romania, because, as we mentioned above, hemp is the plant of which everything is capitalised, and the products obtained are of a great diversity. By applying the technology for processing the stalks in green, the obtained fibre can be used with special results in the strawberry culture at the mulching operation. The paper presents the Equipment for harvesting green hemp stalks ERCV, equipment that performs sequential harvesting of hemp stalks leaving them on the ground. At the same time, factors that influence the process of harvesting hemp stalks are presented: harvesters’ cutting devices, kinematic of the cutting blades, cutting speed, cutting angles of the cutting blades, the forces acting on the blade and the power required to drive the cutting devices.