Results in Engineering (Dec 2022)
Evaluation and comparison and the performance of pressurized and vacuum cylindrical distributors in soybean cultivation
Abstract
Due to the importance of uniform seed cultivation in agricultural yields, the efficiency of two types of pneumatic cylindrical distributors were compared using multi-planting index, non-planting index, and grain deviation from the planting path for soybean cultivation in the laboratory tests by a grease belt machine. The effects of forward velocities of 0.8, 1, 1.2 and 1.5 m/s and vacuum pressures of 2, 3 and 4 kPa on the performance of both systems were evaluated. It was found that by increasing vacuum pressure inside the cylinder in a vacuum distributor, the force against the grain surface and the amount of grain adhesion to the pores increased. In a low vacuum, as the force decreased, the grain absorption in the orifice decreased and the amount of multi-plant sowing increased. By increasing speed at a constant vacuum pressure, the required force for the grain to adhere to the pores decreases, but because the difference between vacuum and gravity causes the grain to fall into the pipe, the accumulation of grains increases by hitting the pipe body and comes out of the fall pipe in batches, thus, increasing the amount of multi-plant sowing. In a pressurized cylindrical distribution, by increasing the pressure inside the cylinder, the grain falls into the falling pipe, and due to increase in air flow velocity, it leaves the falling pipe in a short time, and some multi-sowing will be reduced. Also, at constant pressure, the rate of progression increases due to the irregularity of the entry of grains into the external pipe in the multi-sowing cylinder. The amount of sowing is proportional to the reduction in the amount of filling the distributors and vice versa. The deviation of the grains from the path is significantly dependent on the geometric shape of the fall pipe and the smoothness amount of the fall pipes' inner surface. Due to the use of the same fall pipe, no significant changes were observed in this study.
