Design and Experiment of Air-Suction Roller-Type Minituber Seed-Metering Device Based on CFD-DEM

Jicheng Li, Haiqin Ma, Yuxuan Chen, Xiaoxin Zhu, Yu Qi, Qiang Gao and Jinqing Lyu ()
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Jicheng Li: College of Engineering, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China
Haiqin Ma: College of Engineering, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China
Yuxuan Chen: College of Engineering, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China
Xiaoxin Zhu: College of Engineering, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China
Yu Qi: College of Engineering, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China
Qiang Gao: College of Engineering, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China
Jinqing Lyu: College of Engineering, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China

Agriculture, 2025, vol. 15, issue 15, 1-22

Abstract: Aiming at the problems of the high multiple- and missed-seeding index and low operation efficiency of current mechanical potato seed-meters in minituber sowing, this study designed an air-suction roller-type minituber seed-metering device for minitubers (mass between 2 and 4 g) in accordance with the agronomic standards for potato cultivation in the single-cropping area of northern China. An account of the device’s structure and operational principle was made, its working process was theoretically analysed, and the three main factors affecting the airflow suction were determined: the seed roller speed, the suction seeding hole diameter, and the air inlet negative pressure. This study adopted the fluid dynamics simulation method and determined that the ideal location of the air inlet was 30° for horizontal inclination and 60° for vertical inclination. Then, based on the CFD-DEM fluid-structure coupling simulation method, the impact of a range of factors on the functionality of the seed-metering device under different conditions was studied and verification tests were carried out. Design-Expert was used to analyse test results. The results showed that when the pressure at the air inlet was −7000 Pa, the speed of the seeding roller was 40.2 r·min −1 , the suction seeding hole diameter was 10.37 mm, and the performance was optimal: the qualified index was 92.95%, the multiple-seeding index was 4.16%, and the missed-seeding index was 2.89%. The research results show that the seed-metering device developed under this scheme exhibited satisfactory seeding performance during operation and was able to meet the demands of minituber sowing.

Keywords: multiple-seeding index; missed-seeding index; fluid simulation; coupled simulation; bench test; optimization (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: 2025
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