Design and Experimental Study of a Bi-Directional Rotating Stubble-Cutting No-Tillage Planter

Abstract

In view of the problem of a large amount of stubble and straw in Southwest China, it is difficult to carry out no-tillage sowing operations. Based on the principle of supported cutting, a bi-directional rotating stubble-cutting no-tillage planter was designed. According to the extracted left and right mouth contours of Batocera horsfieldi (Hope), the blade curve of a bi-directional rotating cutterhead was designed. The discrete element models were established regarding ‘bi-directional rotating disc cutter, straw and soil’, ‘fertilizer apparatus and fertilizer’, and ‘opener and soil’ in the Extended-Domain-Eigenfunction Method (EDEM) software. The optimal working parameters were analyzed using a quadratic regression orthogonal rotation test and response surface methodology. Accordingly, the prototype was manufactured and the field performance test was carried out. The best working parameters of the machine were as follows: the forward speed of the machine was 0.9 m·s−1, the cutter spacing was 60 mm, the forward speed was 150 r·min−1, and the reverse speed was 313 r·min−1. The field experiment results showed that the average cutting rate of corn straw was 95.72% using the anti-blocking device when the straw mulching amount was 1.63 kg·m−2.The average sowing depth was 5.4 cm, the average fertilization depth was 10.1 cm, and the average seed–fertilizer spacing was 4.7 cm. The qualified rates of sowing depth, fertilization depth, and spacing were 88.89%, 100%, and 100%, respectively. The designed bi-directional rotating stubble-cutting no-tillage planter can meet the requirements of no-tillage sowing in Southwest China. This study can provide reference for the design and improvement of no-tillage planters under the conditions of a large amount of stubble and straw.

A Review of Contact Models’ Properties for Discrete Element Simulation in Agricultural Engineering

“…But this model cannot be expressed on the soil cohesion or cohesion, only sandy soils, and the subsequent fracture model characteristics are closer to the rest of the soil type. If the remaining soil types need to be studied in the direction of soil fragmentation, they should refer to the research of Zhang Zhihong and Zhu Huibin [63,64]; the JKR and bonding models are used to jointly set up the soil contact calculations to ensure that there is still a JKR particle surface cohesion between the discrete units after the bonding bonds break to express the cohesion of the soil.…”

Design and Experiment of a Soybean Shaftless Spiral Seed Discharge and Seed Delivery Device

“…When the seeds are filled with the average size, the maximum rotational speeds of the vertical and lateral seeding are 860.4 r•min -1 and 711 r•min -1 , respectively. According to the conventional speed of no-till seeding 0.56~1.39 m•s -1 [24] , the seeding speed for soybean seeding at a seed spacing of 10 cm is:…”

Experimental and Numerical Analysis of Straw Motion under the Action of an Anti-Blocking Mechanism for a No-Till Maize Planter

“…These anti-blocking mechanisms find applications in rapeseed direct planting as well as corn no-tillage planting. Theoretical [14,15], experimental [16,17], and numerical [18,19] methods are employed to assess the performance of anti-blocking mechanisms in terms of soil disturbance and straw cleaning rate. For instance, Li et al [14] analyzed the performance of symmetrical spiral row-sorting of the straw device with a theoretical method, Jiang et al [16] tested the performance of a seedbed preparation machine before transplanting of rapeseed with a combined transplanter in the field, and Zhu et al [18] optimized the structural parameters of the bionic shifting and diffluence straw anti-blocking mechanism via EDEM 2022 software.…”