Design and Experiments of Automatic Seedling Separation Device for Vegetable Substrate Block Seedling Transplanter

Shuhe Zheng, Jicheng Li, Zhenfa Dong, Jufei Wang, Wuxiong Weng, Zhichao Cui, Can Wang () and Xinhui Wu ()
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Shuhe Zheng: College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Jicheng Li: College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Zhenfa Dong: College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Jufei Wang: College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Wuxiong Weng: College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Zhichao Cui: College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Can Wang: College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Xinhui Wu: College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China

Agriculture, 2025, vol. 15, issue 4, 1-21

Abstract: To address the critical challenges of low success rates and high seedling damage in automatic transplanters for vegetable substrate block seedlings, this study took cabbage substrate block seedlings as the research object and designed a silica gel wheel–synchronous belt clamping seedling separation device. An experimental platform was constructed to perform a three-factor, three-level orthogonal test, investigating the effects of the wheelbase of the silica gel wheel, the inclination angle of the conveyor belt, and the wheelbase of the silica gel wheel and the synchronous belt on seedling separation success rate and substrate block breakage rate. A quadratic regression model was established to analyze the influence of each factor on the index and to optimize the parameter combination verification test. The results showed that the seedling separation effect was better when the wheelbase of the silica gel wheel was 60.47 mm, the inclination angle of the conveyor belt was 8.67°, and the wheelbase of the silica gel wheel and seedling separation synchronous belt was 39.8 mm. The success rate of seedling separation was 90.21% and the substrate block breakage rate was 6.88% in the field verification test of this parameter combination. When the operating speed is 60 plants/min, there is a higher success rate of seedling separation and a lower substrate block breakage rate. This study explored the conditions for stable seedling separation using the seedling separation device, and provided practical reference for the study of the automatic seedling separation of substrate block seedlings.

Keywords: agricultural machinery; vegetable transplanter; substrate block seedling; seedling dividing device (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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