Reducing adhesion of soil against loading shovel using bionic electro-osmosis method

Bionic elect ro-osmosis, a new method of reducing soil adhesion to soil-engaging components or parts of terrain machines, is presented. It is based on the anti-adhesion mechanism of the body surfaces of soil burrowing animals. The key feature of bionic electro-osmosis is to arrange a series of electric pole plates to create a non-smooth working surface. The static and dynamic effects of bionic electro-osmosis on the reduction of soil adhesion have been examined. The pole plates of the non-smooth surfaces with different dimensions used for bionic electro-osmosis have been designed and tested based on an experimental optimization method. The result showed that the adhesion of soil to a shovel was substantially reduced at a low electro-osmosis voltage. This technique shows promise for practical applications in reducing adhesion of soil against machine parts. (C) 2001 ISTVS. All rights reserved.