Design and Testing of a Branched Air-Chamber Type Pneumatic Seed Metering Device for Rice

Xiantao Zha, Lin Chen, Dongquan Chen, Yupeng He and Ranbing Yang ()
Additional contact information
Xiantao Zha: School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China
Lin Chen: School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China
Dongquan Chen: School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China
Yupeng He: School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China
Ranbing Yang: School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China

Agriculture, 2024, vol. 14, issue 11, 1-27

Abstract: To meet the diverse seeding requirements of super hybrid rice, common hybrid rice, and conventional rice—which vary from 1 to 3 seeds, 2 to 4 seeds, and 5 to 8 seeds per hole, respectively—this study developed a branched air-chamber type pneumatic seed metering device for rice. The device utilizes an air chamber control board to manage the branched air chamber casing, enabling precise adjustments to the seeding quantity. This study presents a theoretical analysis of the seed metering device’s operation and its critical components. Structural parameter optimization was conducted using Ansys-Fluent (2021 R1) software, followed by multi-objective optimization of operational parameters through bench testing. Simulation results indicated that optimal vacuum pressure in the seed metering disc pores reached a maximum of 857 Pa with a chamber depth of 22 mm, an angle of 100°, and a cavity depth of 25 mm, achieving a minimal coefficient of variation of 0.86%. Bench test results showed that for seeding targets of 1 to 3 rice seeds per hole, the optimal operational parameters were: two openings, a working vacuum of 1355 Pa, and a rotor speed of 32.78 r/min, resulting in a missed seeding rate of 4.70%, a qualification rate of 85.81%, and a re-seeding rate of 9.49%. For targets of 2 to 4 seeds per hole, the best parameters included three openings, a working vacuum of 1357 Pa, and a speed of 32.87 r/min, with a missed seeding rate of 4.60%, a qualification rate of 85.59%, and a re-seeding rate of 9.81%. For 5 to 8 seeds per hole, optimal parameters were six openings, a vacuum of 1339 Pa, and a rotor speed of 31.07 r/min, yielding a missed seeding rate of 4.09%, a qualification rate of 87.27%, and a re-seeding rate of 8.64%. These findings demonstrate that the branched air-chamber type pneumatic seed metering device effectively meets the varied direct seeding requirements of rice, enhancing the adaptability of pneumatic seed metering devices to different seeding quantities in rice and potentially informing the design of pneumatic seeders for other crops.

Keywords: rice; precision drilling; adjustable seeding rate; pneumatic seed metering device; fluid simulation (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:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/11/1934/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/14/11/1934/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:14:y:2024:i:11:p:1934-:d:1510279

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().