Operation Performance Test of Hill-seeder Based on Mechanism with Approximate Constant Speed for Corn Whole Plastic-film Mulching

Abstract

The furrow sowing with whole plastic film mulching on double ridges had been widely used in the arid region of Northwest China, because it could resist drought and increase production. The mechanical sowing with film was an inevitable trend in farming. The working performance of operation machine for direct insert hill seeder based on mechanism with approximate constant speed for corn whole plastic film mulching on double ridges was studied, and the best working parameters of prototype, which avoided phenomenon of dislocation of soil hole and mechanical damage of daylighting mulch, were obtained. The Plackett-Burman test was performed to screen the significant parameters from the eight selected parameters (proportion of amplification mechanism, transmission ratio of the mechanism with approximate constant speed, opening displacement of hole former, angle of hole former, rotation speed of crank, forward speed of machine, rotation speed of driving lever and planting depth of hole former). It was found that the rotation speed of crank, forward speed of machine and rotation speed of driving lever had significant effects on dislocation of soil hole rate and mechanical damage rate of daylighting mulch while the other five parameters’ influence was negligible. The steepest ascent test was used to determine the best region of significant parameters. Based on the result of Box-Behnken test, the quadratic polynomial model for dislocation of soil hole rate and mechanical damage rate of daylighting mulch with the three significant parameters were created, the effect of single factor and interaction factors on different response values was explored, and the Optimization-Numerical calculation method was combined to optimize and test the work parameters of direct insert hill seeder in the fields.The test results showed that the operation performance of prototype was in accordance with requirements of national standard, the effects orders of three parameters on dislocation of soil hole rate were as follows: forward speed of machine, rotation speed of crank and rotation speed of driving lever. The effects orders of three parameters on mechanical damage rate of daylighting mulch were as follows: forward speed of machine, rotation speed of driving lever and rotation speed of crank. The optimal working parameters were machine forward speed of 0.52m/s, crank rotation speed of 72r/min and driving lever rotation speed of 140r/min. Confirmatory tests showed that the average value of dislocation of soil hole rate was 1.23% and mechanical damage rate of daylighting mulch was 9.56%, which were dropped significantly compared with before optimization of dislocation of soil hole rate (1.56%~5.87%) and mechanical damage rate of daylighting mulch (10.63%~73.37%). With the optimized working parameters, the threw speed could achieve zero and the problems of picking and tore films and holes with seedlings dislocation were solved, and the mechanical damage of daylighting mulch was also avoided. Meanwhile, it proved that the established regression model was reliable.

Keywords: corn, hill-seeder, mechanism with approximate constant speed, whole plastic-film mulching on double ridges, parameters optimization