| In this paper, the current situation of the research and development of the rice combine harvesters in China was introduced in detail, the main questions existing of the harvesters were indicated, and the prospects for Chinese harvesters were forecasted. The purpose of this study is to fill requirement of the region of hill country and lower economy level on "light, small, simple and cheap" grain combine harvesters.Firstly, the Gongnong-8walking tractor was used as the harvester’s chassis, the design of the over structure and transmission system of model4L-90mini-combine harvester was carried out and its main parameters were estimated in this paper. The design of main parts, the side conveyer blower, double-deck cutters, simple corn-out mechanism and simple hydraulic elevator, were carried out. The parameters of working process were corrected, and the rationality of structure and parameter design was verified.Secondly, in the paper the design of the middle conveyance installation—transport blower—suitable for mini-combine harvester was emphatically introduced, its operating principle was also introduced simply, and the orthonormal experiment program was designed. The superior design was obtained after experiments, and the best parameter combination was determined.Finally, the performance experimental program and method suitable for4L-90combine harvester were designed, the experimental result in field was analyzed. Comparing the performance indexes of4L-90mini-combine harvester with the other similar harvesters in China, the faults of the model4L-90mini-combine harvester were pointed out and the results were concluded.The research results provide a new idea for study and development of mini-combine harvester forming a complete set with walking tractor, conduct the effective exploration on how to improve the performance of mini-combine harvester, and have an important significance in development of mini-combine harvester in our country. |