Performance Evaluation of Biomimetic-Designed Rotary Blades for Straw Incorporation in an Intensive Tillage System

Xinxin Chen, Gaoming Xu (), Xiaoyu Zhang, Weichao Tan, Qishuo Ding and Ahmad Ali Tagar
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Xinxin Chen: College of Agricultural Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212001, China
Gaoming Xu: College of Intelligent Manufacturing and Equipment, Jiangmen Polytechnic, Jiangmen 529090, China
Xiaoyu Zhang: College of Intelligent Manufacturing and Equipment, Jiangmen Polytechnic, Jiangmen 529090, China
Weichao Tan: College of Intelligent Manufacturing and Equipment, Jiangmen Polytechnic, Jiangmen 529090, China
Qishuo Ding: Key Laboratory of Intelligent Agricultural Equipment of Jiangsu Province, College of Engineering, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210031, China
Ahmad Ali Tagar: Department of Farm Power and Machinery, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering, Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam 70060, Pakistan

Agriculture, 2024, vol. 14, issue 8, 1-15

Abstract: A rotary tiller is a common tillage tool for straw incorporation in an intensive tillage system. However, rotary tillage for seedbed preparation in dense-straw mulching conditions experiences high torque and poor performance of straw incorporation. Nowadays, a great deal of studies have been focused on mimicking the morphological features of low-resistance animals to improve the performance of soil-engaging tools. Accordingly, the present study investigated the performance of three C-type rotary blades (i.e., conventional, serrated, and biomimetic) under three straw lengths (50, 100, and 150 mm) for incorporation of straw into the field using an in situ field tillage testing bench. Compared to the conventional and serrated blades, the biomimetic blade had lower straw displacement (decreased by an average of 50 mm and 7 mm, respectively), higher straw burying rate (increased by an average of 5.2% and 7.8%, respectively), better straw distribution (decreased by an average of 9.1% and 10.4% on the coefficient of variation, respectively), as well as lower torque and power (decreased by an average of 3.3 N·m and 4.4 N·m, respectively) under all straw lengths. The improved performance of the biomimetic blade could be attributed to the fact that its typical teeth configuration was designed by mimicking the smooth arc of the mole-rat’s claw. These results demonstrated that the biomimetic-designed blade could be a better option for incorporating dense straw into the field conditions.

Keywords: biomimetic design; rotary blade; straw displacement; straw burying; straw distribution; torque and power (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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