A segment-cutting sugarcane combine harvester primarily consists of a top-cutting device, an auger separator, a sugarcane felling drum, a vertical drum, a root-cutting device, a sugarcane feed drum, segment-cutting blades, a lifting and conveying mechanism, a first blower, and a second blower.

The defoliating device is similar to that of a sugarcane defoliator. In addition, feed wheels are mounted in front of the defoliating unit, while leaf-ejection wheels and conveyor wheels are located behind it; a sugarcane bin or hopper is positioned at the rear of the machine. During operation, whole sugarcane stalks are fed into the defoliating unit by the feed wheels. The leaves are ejected from the machine by the leaf-ejection wheels, while the conveyor wheels convey the sugarcane stalks into the sugarcane bin or hopper.

The top-cutting device first cuts off the tops of the sugarcane stalks, while the spiral separator separates stalks that have fallen outward or are entangled with one another, gathering the sugarcane within the harvested row into the harvester’s working width. The felling drum knocks the sugarcane over, while the vertical drum presses it down; the root cutter then severs the sugarcane at the base. The severed sugarcane is fed into the harvester via the feed drum, where a cutting blade at the end of the feed drum cuts the sugarcane into segments of a specific length. The cut sugarcane is then discharged onto the elevator. During this process, the first blower removes the leaves from the sugarcane, performing the initial separation of cane from leaves. After the elevator raises the sugarcane to a certain height, it is discharged into the waiting truck. At the discharge chute, a second blower performs a second separation of the sugarcane.