Abstract:To address the issues of high labor intensity, low efficiency, and lack of mechanical equipment in the harvesting of sandy willow growing in complex sandy terrains and dispersed distributions, the theoretical analysis, orthogonal experiments, response surface analysis, and field test methods were used, a sandy willow cutting harvester with seven degrees of freedom and a counter-rotating dual saw blade cutting device were designed. Subsquently, the prototype was fabricated and subjected to field performance tests. The harvester was driven by a hydraulic system, and it mainly comprised a frame, a walking mechanism, a cutting device, a telescopic device, and a rotating device, etc. The orthogonal experiments results and response surface analysis indicated that the saw blade rotate speed, feed rate, and number of saw blade teeth were key factors affecting the cutting force and power. The number of saw blade teeth and saw blade rotate speed significantly influenced the cutting force and power, as well as the notable interactions between the saw blade teeth and rotate speed, saw blade teeth and feed rate. The field test results showed that, when the cutting device operating parameters were saw blade tooth number of 120, feeding speed of 10mm/s, and sawing speed of 1400r/min the average stubble breakage rate, missed cut rate, re-cut rate, and stubble height qualification rate of the sandy willow harvester were 4.02%, 4.19%, 0, and 94.33%, respectively, meeting the technical requirements for mechanized sandy willow cutting operations.