A magnitude of a stripping tooth’s necessary strength is an important parameter for designing of reapers. Methodology and means of efforts’ measuring, appeared at stripping teeth, are suggested in the article so as they are necessary for strength calculations. As an example of this method, the definition of efforts, which appear at a tooth during stripping of winter wheat “Luchezar” variety with humidity 10.7% at the certain conditions, is used.

The article presents aspects related to energy potential of the shredded biomass from agricultural secondary production, coming from maintenance operations to cutting trees and vines and an original solution of dryer with vibrating fluidized bed with continuous operation equipped with adjustments of the transit time of biomass in the dryer. Also, it was analysed the dynamic behaviour of the biomass tray as well as of a biomass particle for the variant of vibrating fluidized bed.

To analyze the maximum acceleration (amax) of a potato colliding with different objects, both experimental test and finite element analysis (FEA) methods were used. Results showed that when potatoes were collided with the single rod, the steel plate and the double rods, the average discrepancies of FEA and experimental test values were 5.3%, 3.95% and 5.04%. The amax increased with the increase of potato drop height, and decreased with the increase of potato mass. Under the same conditions, the amax decreased in turn when the potatoes were collided with the steel plate, the single rod and the double rods. The FEA results showed that the amax in collision with the steel plate was 60.78% to 96.29% higher than that with the double rods. The amax in collision with the steel plate was 53.89% to 83.27% higher than that with the double rods. The amax in collision with the single rod covered with soil was 37.65% and 31.54% lower than that without soil from different drop height or with different potato mass. The research methods and conclusions of this article provided a basis for the analysis of impact mechanics and damage mechanism of potatoes, and contributed to further researches related to solid-like agricultural and food products.

The construction of a solar dryer-grain storage facility is described in this paper. The design of a grain auger conveyor-distributor for its loading is made. The dependence of the width of the discharge opening in the casing of the auger conveyor-distributor on its length is obtained. The results of laboratory tests of the grain auger conveyor-distributor are presented. It is established that the minimum initial width of the drain opening for wheat grain should be not less than 9 mm. The conditions of grain uniform distribution grain by the auger conveyor-distributor are justified: the filling factor of the auger inter-turn space in its loading zone – 0.35; the length of the discharge opening of the charging hopper should be equal to the doubled value of the auger pitch size. In this case, the uneven distribution of grain along the discharge opening will be no more than 5%.

Aiming at the low comprehensive utilization rate of corn straw resources, a straw kneading and cutting conveyor suitable for corn harvester was designed to improve the utilization rate of corn straw resources. The workbench module of ANSYS is used to carry out modal analysis of the two blades, and it is determined that the vibration frequency will not cause damage to the blade sweeping bore. By changing the structure of the movable blade shaft, the speed of the blade shaft can be reduced while ensuring the effect of straw crushing and collecting. In order to determine the best working parameters, three-factor and three-level orthogonal test was carried out with blade arrangement, blade shaft speed and length of feed straw as test factors, and the crushing rate of straw as evaluation index. The results show that the main factors influencing the crushing rate of straw are blade shaft speed, blade arrangement and the minor factor is the length of feed straw. Finally, the optimum combination parameters, blade arrangement, blade shaft speed 400 r/min and whole plant feed with straw, were determined. The corresponding straw crushing rate was 96.39%. The research meets the requirements of straw crushing and can provide technical scheme for comprehensive utilization of corn straw.

This paper aimed to optimize working quality and reduce energy consumption of the feeding and shearing device of the silage harvester by making a comprehensive analysis and experiment on the longitudinal compressing and shearing properties of the silage corn stalks. The main factors affecting the shearing energy consumption were obtained by compressing and shearing tests on internodes and nodes of silage corn stalk. The results of three-level and three-factor central combination experiments showed that the overall shearing energy consumption for nodes was much higher than that for internodes. Compressing the silage corn stalk to some extent before shearing at the loading direction of 0° and lower shearing speed was beneficial to saving energy.

The vacuum seed metering device absorbs seeds by using the negative pressure generated by vacuum air flow. Therefore, it is of great significance to study the variation law of pyrolysis gas flow field to improve its seed metering performance. In this paper, the common disc and composite disc were selected as the research objects and tested on the indoor test-bed. The negative pressure was measured by U-type barometer, and the effects of fan speed, suction hole size, seed hole structure and air chamber thickness on the air flow field were studied. Firstly, the influence of fan rotation frequency on vacuum chamber negative pressure is studied, and the variation law of negative pressure in vacuum chamber and fan port of common disc and composite disc under the same frequency is compared. Secondly, the suction holes in the vacuum chamber were numbered, the negative pressure distribution of the suction holes was measured, and the influence of the number and diameter of the suction holes on the negative pressure of the vacuum chamber was studied. Finally, the negative pressure was measured at the distance of 0 to 10 mm from the suction hole to study the effect of seed hole structure on the air flow field. Moreover, increase the additional thickness of the vacuum chamber from 0 to 40 mm to study the influence of the chamber thickness on the distribution of the gas flow field. This paper makes a comprehensive experimental analysis on the influencing factors of air flow field of air suction seed metering device, necessary for future design of air suction seed metering device.

A flame intra-row weeding robot, based on the Delta mechanism, was designed to solve the problems of high labor intensity, low efficiency, easy-to-harm seedling and others. Simultaneously, the applicable robot kinematics model was established. Moreover, the method of exhaustion enabled us to obtain the full-scale robot workspace and analyze its smart workspace. When the nozzle diameter took different values, the numerical simulation on the propane combustion process in the burner was performed by the Fluent component transport model, analyzing the temperature distribution inside and out of the burner. The experimental results showed that the flame intra-row weeding robot was required to work on the condition that the radius of smart cylindrical space is F400 mm×359.8 mm — when the length of the driving arm is 300 mm, the length of the driven arm is 800 mm, the radius of the static platform is 150 mm and the radius of the movable platform is 50 mm — the maximum temperature of propane flame reaches 1,830 K and the width of the high temperature zone reaches 27 mm — when the nozzle diameter is 1.6 mm.

This study aims to analyze the pivot type trailer operation with an ergonomic approach and the necessary interventions required to minimize work risks. Data collection was carried out using questionnaires and video recordings of the operators when the tractors as well as trailers were being operated at various conditions such as track, load, speed, straight motion or turn. Based on the Range of Motion (ROM) analysis, it was discovered that while operating this pivot type trailer, the upper body segments such as neck, shoulders, elbows and back of the operator felt comfortable while he was controlling the tractor. Meanwhile, in the lower body segments, such as the thighs and knees, the operator generally felt discomfort. Furthermore, the analysis of the operators subjectivity perception showed that discomfort was felt at several segments of the upper and lower body, such as the hands and knees. Therefore, several ergonomic interventions are required to increase the comfort of operating this pivot type trailer.

Aiming at the field management of plum grove in Inner Mongolia of China, taking the dense planting plum groves in Bikeqi town of Hohhot City as the research object, this paper proposed a visual navigation path detection algorithm for plum grove. By processing the video image information of plum grove, comparing RGB and HSV color space model, HSV color model was selected to separate the plant and background in V channel. Homomorphic filtering was used to highlight the region of interest in the image, Otsu was selected to segment the image, the intersection of plum trunk and ground was extracted as feature points, and the least square method was used to fit the navigation path. Through the comparative analysis of detection rate under different detection conditions in one day, the verification test of route accuracy was carried out. The experimental results show that: for dense planting plum grove, the average path detection accuracy of the algorithm is 70% and 73.3% under the condition of front light and weak light, respectively. The detection accuracy and real-time meet the requirements of plum grove field management, and the navigation baseline can be generated more accurately, which provides a preliminary basis for the realization of mechanical vision navigation in plum grove field management.

Modeling the threshing and separation process involves the application of a method of description, analysis and analytical determination of system performance: threshing apparatus - working process. The modeling of the process of separating the seeds passing through an axial flow threshing device was performed taking into account that the separation function ss(x) is given depending on the length of the threshing apparatus. Then, models were made to describe the variation of the percentage (cumulative) of separated seeds ss (x=L), corresponding to the modification of the threshing apparatus functional parameters (depending on the peripheral speed of the rotor, the flow of straw parts and the moisture of straw parts).

In view of the problems of long coating time, complicated manual operation, high multi-seed rate of coated seeds, low qualified rate, and low degree of automation of control equipment in traditional rotary coating machine, a new type of rotary coating machine was designed while using LabVIEW with a complete electric control system, which can effectively improve the speed and quality of coating. The system uses single-chip microcomputer as the lower computer, LabVIEW as the upper computer, and uses programming electronic control technology to set seed coating parameters in advance, precisely control each part and achieve precise supply. Batch supply of powder and liquid greatly improves the automation and intelligence of the operating system, improves the coating efficiency, reduces the multi-seed rate and the seedless rate, and increases the coating pass rate. In order to improve the coating quality and the supply accuracy of the coating machine, the error analysis and calibration test of the seed supply system, powder supply system and liquid supply system were carried out. After the test verification, the supply error was controlled within 2% to meet the demand for precise supply. The test results show that the pass rate of the seeds coated by the new rotary coating machine is increased by 15% to 20% compared with the seeds coated by the traditional manual coating.

Aiming at solving problems that the variation of tillage depth between rows and within rows caused by the surface undulation was great, the lateral stability of tillage depth obtained by the method of adjusting at the three-point suspension was poor, and lack of subsoilers with the function of accurate detection and adjustment of single row tillage depth, a method of independent control of single row tillage depth based on ultrasonic sensor detection and hydraulic adjustment was proposed. And the tillage depth monitoring and control subsoiling assembly and the subsoiler equipped with subsoiling assemblies were designed. The key structural parameters of the hydraulic cylinder and the model of the three-position four-way magnetic exchange valve were determined. The subsoiling quality and performance comparison tests were conducted, and the results showed that the mean value of the variable coefficient of soil hardness, looseness of soil and coefficient of soil disturbance were 52.23%, 32.55% and 62.15%, respectively, and the stability coefficient of tillage depth was 92.43%, which all met the subsoiling operation requirements. The standard deviation of tillage depth belonged to the method of independent adjustment of single row and unified adjustment of each row were 38.315mm and 51.521mm, respectively. The subsoiler equipped with tillage depth monitoring and control subsoiling assemblies designed in this paper was capable of significantly improving the stability of tillage depth between rows and within rows.

In the abandoned mine area with Karst landform in China, soils are few and thin but rocks are common, traditional planting hole diggers are unequal to work in rocks for vegetation restoration. A reamer bit with variable lateral drilling radius was designed based on the PDC (polycrystalline diamond compact) bit technology and metamorphic mechanism. Two lateral camber blades with PDC teeth were installed inside the bit body, a screw mechanism was employed as the actuation and a spatial double triangle mechanism was taken for the transmission. The curve of the camber blade was specially defined thus the reaming load was decentralized to 85.7% teeth on the blade. The kinematics of the lateral reamer bit was analysed, the mapping models from the actuation to the reaming radius and speed were established. Concrete samples were reamed indoors from 240mm to 407mm in diameter, the reaming cutting load and time length were measured and analysed. The lateral reamer bit was approved with the experiment results, this study provided equipment support for digging the planting hole in rocky abandoned mine areas and also expanded the PDC bit application.

The paper presents theoretical research conducted for the optimization of the working process of variable width ploughs. Thus, were determined multivariable regression functions for the traction force of the plough with variable working function of the control parameters: working depth, working width and working speed. The use of these theoretical considerations of the optimal points sought lead to the opportunity of making assessments on the possibilities to conduct their experimental validation. Conditions for an experimental plan were formulated to highlight such optimal points and the theoretical results were validated through experiments.

In this paper, taking compound air-suction seed metering device as the subject, the effect rule of seed filling angle and seed releasing angle on the performance of seed filling and seed metering is studied. An indoor test was conducted with a JPS-12 metering test bench and a high-speed camera system. The starting and ending angles of the air chamber were changed by adjusting the regulating plate, that is, the angles of seed filling and seed releasing, and the filling and seed metering performance was taken as evaluation indexes. The test results show that: the seed filling angle has significant effect on the seed filling effect, and the miss fill index decreases with the increase of the quality of fill index. When the seed filling angle exceeds 50°, they will stabilize gradually ending at the multiple fill index of 0%. The negative pressure and operating speed are interactive and have a significant effect on filling performance. The seed releasing angle has significant effect on the metering performance. With the increase of the angle, the quality of feed index increases firstly and then decreases. The multiple index and miss index are opposite to the quality of feed index which is the max at the seed releasing angle of 39.5°. The negative pressure and forward speed are interactive and have a significant effect on metering performance. The quality of feed index under the same condition is lower than that of fill index.

Taking the lubrication system of rotary tillage engine as the research object, this paper makes a three-dimensional simulation study on the oil flow characteristics in the lubricating oil passage. The oil supply of the oil pump shall be greater than the circulating oil required by the lubrication system to ensure the lubrication of the rotary cultivator. Lubrication system is an important part to ensure the reliability and durability of rotary cultivator. The key component to achieve its performance is the oil pump. The geometric model of lubricating oil flow field in rotary tiller lubrication system is established by using FLUENT software. The results show that the pressure drop in the lubricating oil passage of the main bearing is the largest under the same working conditions. In the oil passage of the cylinder head, the pressure drop of the front main oil passage is the largest and the oil discharge is the largest. Add 1.6mm oil pump rotor on the basis of the thickness of the original oil pump rotor, the oil flow at the connecting rod nozzle reaches the flow index of the original rotary cultivator, and there is no cylinder pulling phenomenon of the rotary cultivator.

In order to improve the quality of modern dairy industry, it is an inevitable trend to implement intensive control feeding of dairy cows, which is also the development direction in the future. Different feeding methods have different important effects on the health of dairy cows. For example, calves grow and develop rapidly during lactation, their physiological structure changes rapidly, and their digestive function is not perfect. In the production of dairy farms, the scientific feeding mode of calves indirectly affects the overall benefits of dairy farms. Therefore, aiming at the above problems, this paper studies how to accurately control the quality of dairy cows. A cow precise feeding control system based on wireless communication technology and cow information management technology is studied, which solves the problems of wireless information transmission, automatic and accurate cow identification and dual-mode operation of feeder, and ensures the accurate supply of cow concentrate

This critical collision damage force of millet and sweet buckwheat grain and the shelling force of shelled granular materials are important basic data for research of threshing and shelling technology and equipment. In order to master the linear velocity and collision force of grain with different moisture content when collision damage occurs, a centrifugal collision test device is designed. Based on the dynamic and kinematic analysis of grain in the centrifugal rotary table, the collision force between grain and steel plate was measured by PVDF piezoelectric pressure sensor and data acquisition system. The results showed that: under the same moisture content, the higher the rotational speed, the higher the grain crushing rate; at the same rotational speed, with the increase of moisture content, the crushing rate first decreased and then increased. When the moisture content of Jingu-21 and Yuqiao-4 is 19.7% and 17.8%, respectively, the grain crushing rate was the lowest. In terms of the anti-collision ability of grain, the optimum moisture content of threshing is between 19.7% and 21% for millet. For sweet buckwheat, the optimum moisture content of threshing is 17.8% ~19%, while the optimum moisture content of shelling by centrifugal sheller is about 11%. The faster the rotational speed of centrifugal rotary table is, the greater the linear speed of grain is, and the greater the collision force is. When the linear velocity of grain was 8.32 m/s and 11.30 m/s respectively, the millet grain moisture content was 11.1% and 20.9% respectively, damage began to appear, and the corresponding collision force was about 5.51 N and 10.6 N, respectively. When the linear velocity of grain was 8.32 m/s and 11.30 m/s respectively, and the moisture content was 11.1% and 22.8% of the sweet buckwheat grain respectively, damage began to appear, the corresponding collision force was about 8.92 N and 12.79 N, respectively. When the rotating speed of rotary table was 910 r/min, the linear speed of grain was 27.05 m/s, the crushing rate of millet and sweet buckwheat grain in harvest period were 56.30% and 63.76%, respectively, and the crushing rate of millet and buckwheat grain with 11.1% moisture content were 86.27% and 89.4%, respectively. The research results can provide theoretical basis for design and optimization of millet and sweet buckwheat combine harvester, threshing device and shelling device.

The paper develops an analysis of exhaust noise for a single-cylinder diesel engine tested in laboratory conditions. The acoustic signal at the engine exhaust system, for the speed range 1,300 – 2,700 rpm was measured and recorded. The results of the noise recordings were subjected to a processing from which the variation of the noise level depending on the engine speed was obtained. Next, the physiological effect of acoustic filtrations for noise recordings was analyzed by simulation. This allowed the optimization of the exhaust noise, having identified the areas and the optimal attenuation effect. In the performed simulations, it was found that the low frequencies require the highest attenuation background.

Applying different types of fertilizers to different depths of soil according to demand is advantageous in that it can optimize the distribution of nutrients in arable soil, adjust the nutrient supply of each growth stage of wheat, and increase grain yield. In the study, a layered fertilization opener that could realize the layered fertilization was developed. The interaction model between the opener, fertilizer and soil was established using EDEM simulation software. A response surface analysis was used to determine the optimal parameters of the opener. Specifically, the horizontal distance between the fertilizer drop openings was 140 mm, the machine speed was 1.05 m/s, and the angle of the opener was 37°. Furthermore, field experiments demonstrated that the average depth of upper layer was 8.39 cm, the average depth of middle layer was 16.465 cm, the average depth of lower layer was 24.025 cm, the average spacing of upper layer was 8.075 cm, and the average spacing of lower layer was 7.6 cm. The corresponding findings demonstrated that the layering effect of the opener met the requirements of the fertilization standard.

The tractor working environment is complex and changeable, and the dynamic variation range of the center of gravity position of the tractor body is large. In order to avoid rollover accident, an active anti rollover control method of tractor momentum flywheel and its model test are proposed in this paper. The tractor dynamic system model and control strategy are verified by a 1:16 scale tractor model. The research results show that when the model tractor crosses the trapezoidal obstacle B, the roll angle of the whole machine is temporarily stable near 35 °, indicating that at this time, the tires on one side of the whole machine are in actual contact with the obstacle, showing a short stable state of the whole machine. When the pavement roughness reaches F-H level, without any active anti rollover control, the evaluation index EP shows a divergence trend when it is greater than 1, and the simulation calculation is terminated due to the occurrence of rollover of the whole machine. The test data and simulation results under two different driving speeds are in good agreement, which verifies the effectiveness and reliability of the tractor rollover dynamic system model and the momentum flywheel active stabilization system.

The method and parameters of experimental modelling of systems and processes in mechanical engineering are substantiated. The theory of similarity and dimensionality is used as an intermediate link between theory and experiment. The dimension of the factor space depends on the number of factors. The set of factors is grouped into dimensionless similarity criteria. The selected criteria are in certain dependence, such as the Galileo test, Euler and Reynolds numbers. Examples of application in experimental studies are given. The use of dimension theory in a factor-planned experiment allows reducing the number of factors, simplifies the mathematical interpretation of the response criterion and provides a graphical representation in the form of 3-D model.

In this paper, a few assessments of the optimal parametric combinations in the operating regime of agricultural aggregates with ploughs of variable width are made. The starting point was from a classic expression of the tillage draft force required for traction. In order to find optimal points, some problems of constrained extreme have been formulated. Extremes provided by the optimal working width and speed have been found. Such optimal points have existed in the literature, for about half a century. Using these theoretical estimates of the optimal points sought, assessments of the possibilities for their experimental validation were made. Basic conditions for an experimental plan are formulated to highlight such optimal points.

In this paper, the ultimate crushing displacement Y1 and load Y2 of the coated fertilizer granules were obtained by uniaxial compression test as 0.450 mm and 58.668 N, respectively. The Plackett-Burman and Steepest ascent tests were taken to determine factors that had significant effects on the results and their ranges of values, respectively. Finally, the Particle Swarm Optimization - Back Propagation (PSO-BP) neural network was trained, and the correlation coefficients of training, validation, testing and overall performance were obtained as 0.98057, 0.95781, 0.96724 and 0.97459, respectively. The Y1 and Y2 are 0.450 mm and 58.703N, with a relative error of 0.06% from the actual value.

Automatic navigation system for agricultural vehicles have become a widely used technology in precision agriculture over the last few decades. More and more sophisticated tractor control systems, however, revealed that exact positioning of the actual implement is equally or even more important. Based on literature sources and patent databases, the aim of this review is to introduce implement guidance systems and describe its current application in agricultural implement. Agricultural implement guidance is an essential technology for autonomous vehicle operations. In addition, applications and new technologies associated with navigation sensors on passive and active implement guidance are analyzed. Finally, challenges and future perspectives of agricultural implement systems are summarized and forecasted. This study can enrich the application of automatic navigation sensors on agricultural implements and provide a reference for the application of automatic navigation on more field operations.

The article examines the ways to solve the problem of developing a scientific basis for obtaining composite materials of different functional purposes from oilseed flax fibers. The paper covers theoretical and experimental research in the area of processing flax raw materials. The purpose of the study is to provide scientific substantiation of developing the technologies for obtaining fillers to reinforce composite materials. In order to do it, modification of oilseed flax fiber was performed and a technology for processing oilseed flax straw with regulated technological and performance characteristics was developed. The article also presents the results of the research on determining causes of low wettability of oilseed flax bast. In order to find out the causes of low bast wettability, research on examining chemical composition and anatomy of straw stems was conducted. The formulation for preparing the fiber aimed to be used as a filler for reinforcement of composite materials is offered. The study suggests evaluation of the quality of composite materials produced based on using modified oilseed flax fibers.

Aiming at the problems that the cutter frequency of combine harvester is difficult to be adjusted adaptively with the forward speed, and that the missed cut or repeated cut may cause the harvesting loss to increase and the operation effect to fluctuate greatly, the system is designed to regulate the cutter frequency of combine harvester by sections. By constructing the cutter trajectory equation, the influence of the relationship between the forward speed of the harvester and the cutting frequency on the cutting area is analysed, and the optimum cutting frequency range at different operating speeds is determined. The results show that the error between the actual cutting frequency and the desired frequency of the cutter is less than 0.8Hz, and the maximum relative error is less than 8.6%; the average steady-state adjustment time of the system is 1.3s when the input cutting frequency of the device changes abruptly. The research class provides technical support for the improvement of the combine harvester handling system and the increase of the machine automation level.

For high-quality and simultaneous breeding of different ages of poultry a modular keeping is proposed. The heating system of the module is a panel infrared heater. It is intended for local heating of technological area. Design dimensions of the module were determined for reasons of qualitative course of technological process, namely the stocking density of poultry. Experimental studies of the temperature regime of poultry breeding area were carried out. Body temperature of the poultry was within acceptable limits, up to 41.5ºC. In addition, the surface temperature of the feathers did not exceed 29.1ºC, which fully complies with sanitary and hygienic standards. For a better representation of temperature regime in the module, CFD modeling was performed. Fields of velocities, pressures and temperatures were obtained. The air temperature near poultry in the module reached 18.6ºC, and the average velocity did not exceed 0.75m/s.

In most parts of China, pruned branches in orchards are still treated manually. In order to reduce the intensity and labor cost, this paper provides a mechanical solution for branches collection, which mainly includes the gathering device, picking device, and smashing device. A simulation platform with a humancomputer interaction was developed in Matlab. It can set optimization goals based on human practical experience and optimize the main influencing parameters, and both the gathering device and the picking device achieve the design simulation on this platform. Furthermore, this method helps to quickly obtain the data of key components in the core device. Firstly, the shape of the Slide-way shell of the gathering device can be obtained quickly through different gathering ranges. Secondly, a group of angle and motion trajectory of the picking device with lower height was obtained from the simulation design. Furthermore, the performance of the improved picking device under four different laying conditions was tested. The results showed that, under R=38-42 r/min and V=0.80-0.95 m/s, the success rate of the picking device was 94.2%, 92.5%, 61.0% and 30.8%, respectively. The field test demonstrated that there are no significant differences between the simulated test results and practice test results.

Deep-fertilization mechanism is a key part of deep-fertilization liquid fertilizer applicator. To obtain a good-performance deep-fertilization mechanism, this study developed a deep-fertilization mechanism with deformed gears and designed a deformed gear fertilization test bench. Single-factor and central composite design tests were performed with the planet carrier, spray hole size and pump pressure as the test factors, and the fertilizer amount as the test index. The results of the single-factor test showed a linear functional relationship between fertilizer amount and pump pressure, an exponential functional relationship between planet carrier velocity and fertilizer amount, and an exponential relationship between spray hole size and fertilizer amount. The rotating and perpendicular test data were analyzed and optimized using Design-Expert 8.0.5 software. The result of the optimization is: 10.5 ml of fertilizer amount with pump pressure 0.36 MPa, planet carrier velocity 82 r/min, and spray hole size 2 mm. The test result can meet the agronomic requirements.

The amount of energy required to perform technological processes in agriculture largely depends on the size of the resistance to the displacement of the working bodies of machines. The main factor of energy consumption performing the technological process of potato harvesting is the resistance to the displacement of the digestive working body. In order to reduce the resistance to displacement an improved design of the digging body is proposed. An analytical study was conducted to determine the problem of moving the working body in the soil environment. The strength of the soil resistance is determined and the regularity of the influence on its change of parameters and the shape of the blade and separation parts of the digging working body is established. Calculations are made using the Mathematica application programm. The graphic dependences and contours of the isoline of the traction flange of the working part of the working body are obtained. Analysis of the calculations allowed to set the parameters of the surface of the dashboard, which provide a minimum of traction resistance. The schedule and contours of isolines of the change of the total resistance to the displacement of the soil mass with the tubers by the separation surface of the working organ in the function of the distance between the bars and the size of their intersection are also obtained. Analysis of the dependence of soil resistance and tubers on the separation surface indicates that an increase in the size of the geometric size of the intersection of the rods leads to a significant increase in the resistance of the medium. The material presented in the article can be used for analytical determination of the resistance of the excavation working body of potato harvesting machines of arbitrary geometric shape in the soil medium with tubers.

In order to solve the problems of low efficiency of artificial harvesting method and high breakage rate and undepurated rate of traditional threshing method, a new flexible threshing device of Chinese cabbage seeds was designed, which was composed of flexible round head nail teeth and circular tube concave plate. Hertz contact collision theory was used to analyze and determine the structural parameters of the new threshing unit. The interaction force of different threshing elements materials were analyzed by using EDEM. The feasibility of the flexible threshing unit was verified by the comparison test of the distribution of threshed mixture. Finally, the orthogonal test was carried out to study the influence of the movement parameters of each structure on the cleaning rate and the rate of undepurated, and the weight matrix method was used to optimize it. The results indicate that under the condition the rotating speed of the threshing cylinder 750 rpm, the concave clearance 20 mm, and the feeding rate 1.4 kg/s, the threshing performance of the flexible threshing unit was the best. At this time, the breaking rate was 0.064%, and the un-threshing rate was 0.67%, which both met the relevant industry standards.

According to the planting agronomy of Lycium barbarum L. in Ningxia, a self-propelled straddle-type sprayer was designed. The aim was to reduce the labor requirements, improve the spraying effect to the middle and lower parts of the canopy, reduce the influence of natural wind on droplet drift, and recycle excess liquid medicine to reduce environmental pollution. Tests showed that the coverage rate of liquid medicine on the leaf surface and back of the leaf peaked at 84.2% and 48.3%, respectively, when spraying pressure was high. Under different spraying distances, the coverage rate of liquid medicine on leaf surface and back of leaf reached 73.3% and 38.3% at the shortest distance. The uniformity of the spray droplet distribution was good, the use error was less than 10%, and the excess liquid was effectively recovered.

A widespread use of wind turbines can fully or partly provide energy for the consumers, but with due regards to certain investments and instability of energy generation. Technologies of using wind energy imply the conversion of the mechanical energy of a wind flow into the electrical or heat energy. The work is concerned with the estimation of the amount of heat in the process of heating liquid coolants and heat-transfer fluids when using wind mechanical plants. In the paper was made a numerical analysis of the temperature rise of the liquid which circulates in a closed loop of a gear-type pump, whose productivity is 3 l/m and which is driven by a wind turbine 5 kW of power capacity under a nominal wind speed of 7 m/s and under cycle duration of 2 s. The analysis showed that the temperature increased by 0.290 °?/s. If such wind speed is observed during one hour, the temperature of 100 kg of water will increase by 8.1°?. Heating of a heat-transfer fluid with a supply of mechanical energy to a working part can be achieved by a centrifugal fan. Assuming that the given process occurs without supplying and removing heat energy (it is adiabatic), for the capacity of 1.5 kW and under the revolution in a range of 1000….3000 r/m, the changes in temperature will range from 0.38 to 0.87 °?/s, but for the capacity of 7.5 kW and under 750 – 1500 r/m, the changes in temperature will range from 0.56 to 1.23 °?/s.

An approach for evaluation of the places for creation of apiaries and optimal distribution of bee colonies formed on the basis of the feeding capacities of the areas with flowering plants, the distances between these sites and the feeding areas is proposed. A multicriteria model with two main criteria is considered. The first maximizes the sum of the products of the weights for a given place multiplied by the number of colonies that will be positioned at that place. This criterion is divided into two sub-criteria, including the ‘subjective’ and ‘objective’ assessment of place preferences, respectively. The second criterion aims to minimize malnourished bee colonies. The model, with the proposed approach for ‘objective’ assessment of potential distribution sites, can be applied both for cases without overpopulation of the area with bee colonies and for areas with overpopulation.

As we belong to a developing country, the agricultural importance is a known criterion. Majority of the Indians depend on agriculture for their basic living. It also serves as the backbone of the Indian economy. Therefore this sector should be considered important and taken care of. Diseases affecting the plants and pest are the two major threats of agriculture production. Naked eye observation followed by the addition of chemical fertilizers is the traditional method adopted by most of the farmers to avoid plant diseases. But the main limitation to this method is that it works only in the case of small scale farming. In order to tackle this issue many automatic plant disease detection systems have been developed from the early 70s. This paper is intended to survey some of the existing works in plant disease recognition that include various procedures, materials and approaches. They use different machine learning algorithms, image processing techniques and deep learning methods for disease detection. This paper also compares and suggests novel methods to recognize and classify the various kinds of infections affecting agricultural plants.

Nowadays, cooling the air by means of climate maintenance systems is achieved, in most cases, using installations based on freon or other substances that cause pollution. Taking into account the fact that the EEC standards and regulations increase the emphasis on ensuring the quality, labour safety, health and environment, finding a solution for air conditioners that do not use a substance that causes pollution, has become a necessity. As a great part of farming work is done in the warmest periods of the year, temperatures being frequently over 35oC, it is necessary to equip the agricultural machines with air conditioners in order to achieve a thermic comfort in the cab. For this purpose, an air conditioner based on the process of water evaporation was designed, made and tested. The installation is able to cool the air that enters into the cab through the evaporation process that takes place in the special filling, with an efficiency of the mixing process more than 90%. Air passing sections are calculated so that they can assure both the quantity needed for climate maintenance in the cab (about 3.5 - 4 m3/min) and the relative speed between air and water in the filling, in order for the evaporation process to be conducted in the best conditions that were theoretical established.

To improve the adaptability and precision of the slider-hole-wheel seed-metering device to meet the requirements of precision sowing, the single factor simulation experiments and the three factors three levels of orthogonal simulation experiments were carried out based on the discrete element method. The rotation speed of the seeding shaft, the shape of the hole, and the depth of the hole were set as experiment factors. The results of simulation experiments showed that the qualified rate was the highest when the rotation speed of the seeding shaft was 30 r/min, the shape of the hole was oval, and the depth of the hole was 9 mm. The qualified rate, replay rate, and miss-seeding rate were 89.09 %, 3.64 %, and 7.27 %,respectively. The hybrid rice seeds of Zhongnong 2008, Chuangliangyou 4418, and Gangyou 898 were chosen as the materials for the bench and field seeding performance tests to verify the reliability of the simulation results. The test results showed that the qualified rate of Zhongnong 2008, Chuangliangyou 4418, and Gangyou 898 seed in bench tests were 85.07 %, 85.20 %, and 82.13 %, and the qualified rate of Zhongnong 2008, Chuangliangyou 4418, and Gangyou 898 seed in field tests were 82.13 %, 82.27 %, and 80.53 %. The seeding performance with the three kinds of rice seeds could meet the agronomic requirements for precision sowing of hybrid rice. The paper provided the basis for the structure optimization and seeding performance improvement of the slider-hole-wheel seed-metering device.

The article defines the influence of structural and operational parameters of a machine-tractor unit on changes in the hardness of freshly plowed soil due to deformation and compaction of the soil by wheeled running systems. An experimental model of the effect of pressure in the pneumatic chamber of the wheel, working width, and speed of the unit on changes in soil hardness in the area of operation of running systems is obtained. The obtained mathematical models make it possible to reduce the negative impact on the soil by optimally completing, configuring, and selecting a machine-tractor unit operating mode.

In order to study the compressive creep properties and laws of paddy soil, multi-stress creep experiments of paddy soil with different moisture content were carried out. The results show that the creep deformation of paddy soil, subjected to compressive loads effect, develops stably and the paddy soil is not destructed under the yield strength when the stress is low. When the stress level is higher than the yield strength, the internal damage of paddy soil would be caused at the moment of loading. With the extension of creep time, the cracks would gradually expand, resulting in the soil to yield, break and disintegrate. According to the analysis of the deformation properties of paddy soil under compression and the change trend of creep curve, the nonlinear viscoelastic-plastic model was composed of the nonlinear viscoplastic model and Burgers model in series. The creep test curve was introduced into the model for fitting, and the coefficient of determination reached more than 0.96. Based on the model, the strain composition, strain proportion, and strain rate of paddy soil were studied. Finally, the nonlinear model was compared with Burgers model by verification test. The fitting accuracy of the nonlinear model was better than Burgers model, and the coefficient of determination and relative error were 0.997 and 0.437%, respectively, which proved the rationality and correctness of the nonlinear viscoelastic-plastic model. This study can provide a theoretical basis for the optimization of tillage machinery structure and the simulation analysis of soil tillage and compaction.

In Kenya, threshing of common beans is mainly by traditional method using sticks and animal tramping, which are slow, inefficient and tedious. Consequently, there is a need to develop portable threshers locally available in the market for small and medium-scale farmers. The objective of this study was to simulate design variables effect on the performance of a common beans portable thresher. Sizing of design variables and parameters was key in development of bean thresher. This could be achieved by costly experiments or use of prediction mathematical model equation. The later method was used by developing mathematical models from combination of Buckingham pi theorem and reference to other similar work in literature. The predicting equation for power requirement, grain losses, grain damages, efficiency and throughput capacity were developed and validated using experimental thresher from the same study. The results showed that there was a positive correlation with R2 of 0.9. Based on actual data and 10% absolute residual error interval, the prediction performance of the developed models were above 77%. The results noted that increase in cylinder peripheral speed of the pegs resulted into increase in power requirement, bean grains damages, threshing efficiency and throughput capacity. Also increase in effective cylinder diameter caused increase in threshing efficiency and grain damages.

As the application of agricultural mechanized production technology becomes more and more extensive, the application of mechanized straw returning technology has become more and more valuable. The mechanized return of straw to the field is a time-saving and labor-saving technology. It is an effective way to achieve sustainable agricultural development and is of great significance to the development and progress of modern agriculture. This article analyzes the current research status of mechanized straw returning to the field, discusses the process structure and characteristics of different mechanized straw returning methods, and focuses on the analysis of the composite technology of straw returning to the field. At the same time, the key problems of straw returning to the field, such as the length of straw not meeting the standard, the shallow depth of straw returning to the field, and the uneven distribution of straw, are put forward and analyzed. By taking the coverage rate and burial rate of the surface straw and the uniformity of the spatial distribution of the straw in the soil as the performance evaluation index of the mechanized return of straw to the field, and expounding its various indicators. Finally, two major development trends are proposed: the development of mechanized straw returning to the field from a single process to a composite process, and the effect of straw returning to the field towards uniform mixed burying and precise control.

In order to solve the problem of autonomous movement of intelligent picking robot, a method for big data analysis is proposed. The data collected by laser ranging sensor, CCD camera and electronic compass are analyzed to determine the current robot position and heading. The walking route for the robot is preset of the orchard. The sign for the digital tube is installed, so the coordinates for the sign are known. Electronic compass is used to determine the heading angle of robot. The CCD camera captures the sign image, and adopts the methods of image graying, image segmentation, image corrosion and image thinning to extract the digital tube image data on the sign. Fuzzy control method is used to identify digital tube numbers on the ground sign, and CCD camera scans whether there are obstacles in front of the road at the same time. The laser ranging sensor completes two tasks: ? detecting the sign distance and direction angle of the distance, and calculating the current position and heading angle of the robot through the coordinates of the sign; (2) detect the distance from obstacles, and start the obstacle avoidance system when it is less than 1m. The path planning system of picking robot based on big data analysis relies on a variety of sensors, and has a strong ability to perceive orchard environment, and it has high ability of path planning.

In this paper are presented the results of experimental research conducted in order to improve the uniformity of organic fertilizers distribution (compost and semi-fermented manure) used for soil fertilization, if the administration is done with a machine with a distributor with continuous spiral centrifugal beaters, arranged vertically. The uniformity of organic fertilizers distribution depends on a number of factors such as: the speed and angle of inclination of the distribution device, the distance between the distribution beaters, the humidity and the density of the material, wind speed, the size of the fertilizer particles. The determinations were performed under working conditions and the various parameters were the beaters speed, beaters inclination angle and the feed rate of the distribution device, choosing 3 situations (minimum, average and maximum) for each of them. Based on the obtained results, the multivariable functions of polytropic form was determined, which characterize the degree of uniformity of the spread material, function that can be the basis for the elaboration of constructive solutions to ensure the optimum uniformity of distribution.

Aiming at the problem that contain more soil impurities of potato post-harvest, which affects subsequent deep processing, an apparatus for removing soil impurities from potato was developed. The whole structure is mainly composed of frame, feeding port, flexible rubber finger conveying mechanism, slender filament rotary brushing mechanism, discharging port and the like. The research and analysis determined that the main parameters influencing the soil impurities removal performance are the movement speed of conveying mechanism, the movement speed of brushing mechanism and the clearance between conveying mechanism and brushing mechanism (hereinafter referred to as the mechanism clearance). Taking the main influencing parameters as test factors, and the soil impurities removal rate and potato damage rate as indexes, the orthogonal test with three factors and three levels was carried out. The optimal parameter combination was obtained as follows: the movement speed of conveying mechanism is 0.35m/s, the movement speed of brushing mechanism is 0.40m/s, and the mechanism clearance is 55mm. At this time, the average soil impurities removal rate is 87.18%, and the potato average damage rate is 1.95%, which meet the requirements of potato cleaning operation.

n present-day economic conditions, extrusion is one of the advanced feedstuffs and food production processes involving intensive manifold heat and force action. During extrusion, the main function is performed by a compression mechanism which includes a forcing screw unit built into the cylinder (cowling). The forcing mechanism performs the task of transferring material while concurrently compressing it up to a required pressure and increasing the material s temperature due to compression and friction against the cowling s sides. The temperature affects the quality of the resulting product. Thus, the research aims at obtaining a heat balance equation to optimize the extrusion process and the operating parameters of the extruder itself.

The results of the bibliographic and theoretical studies on methods of dosing liquid substances using hydropneumatic systems are presented in this article. Based on these studies, the multicomponent continuous dosing method and installation were developed in order to obtain high quality liquid mixtures (including biofuels) at minimal cost. In the proposed installation "Biomixt-Pres" the flow of liquid components is ensured by overpressure in the dispenser tank. Theoretical analysis and experimental research of this installation allowed to argue the values of constructive and hydrodynamic parameters (overpressure in the working tank ?p = 0.2- 0.5 MPa; diameter of the working tank D=aprox.0.625 H (H is the height of the tank), liquid level and the installation height of the maximum, minimum liquid level transducers in the working tank), which ensures the required ratio of components with the error d<0.2%.

The concept of functional controllability of the milk ejection is considered, which makes it possible to predict the intensity of milk ejection in the online mode of the milking machine. The architecture of the functional controllability by intensity of milk ejection is developed. Input and output parameters of the structural-functional scheme of adaptive control of milk ejection intensity are described. An analytical model of milk ejection intensity based on Pearson s distribution is developed. The milk ejection intensity for different productivity and duration of cows milking is modelled. The microprocessor unit is designed using a single-chip microcontroller. It ensures the algorithm set by the central computer and implements a step of changing the pulsation frequency of 0.1 Hz, the ratio between the cycles of 0.25%, the phase shift step of 0.1 s.

When forklifts are used to move stored crops in a storage environment, the positioning system is severely affected by the presence of multiple stored crops and shelves and other complex factors in the environment. Aiming at the problems of low positioning and navigation accuracy and large accumulated error of forklift system, a Lidar/IMU integrated navigation and positioning method is proposed in this paper, which can improve the positioning accuracy of forklift truck in storage environment. Meanwhile, the improved EKF filtering algorithm is proposed in this paper which can optimize the navigation and positioning system. This method first extracts the environmental information obtained from Lidar scan measurements and the attitude information collected by the IMU. Then the output data from the two sensors are processed with the improved EKF filtering algorithm, which can improve the navigation and positioning accuracy when the forklift is working. The Lidar/IMU integrated navigation and positioning method proposed in this paper is validated by experiments simulating forklifts working in a warehouse environment in the laboratory. Through simulation experiments, it is verified that the improved EKF filtering algorithm in this paper can improve the positioning accuracy of forklift truck, accuracy of forklift movement trajectory, closer to the expected trajectory.

In present-day economic conditions, extrusion is one of the advanced feedstuffs and food production processes involving intensive manifold heat and force action. During extrusion, the main function is performed by a compression mechanism which includes a forcing screw unit built into the cylinder (cowling). The forcing mechanism performs the task of transferring material while concurrently compressing it up to a required pressure and increasing the material s temperature due to compression and friction against the cowling s sides. The temperature affects the quality of the resulting product. Thus, the research aims at obtaining a heat balance equation to optimize the extrusion process and the operating parameters of the extruder itself.

The Brabender farinograph is a device with which important indications for baking are obtained, namely: dough development time (DDT), water absorption (WA), dough stability time (DST), softening degree (SD), Farinograph Quality Number (FQN), important parameters for determining flour mixtures. These parameters are represented on the farinographic curve drawn during the farinograph test. Dough development or formation (formation of gluten) is represented by the ascending branch of the farinographic curve, which has a steep ascending slope, because time (expressed in minutes), fixed on the abscissa of the diagram, has relatively low values (about 1.2–3 min for regular flours), while consistency, fixed on the ordinate of the diagram, reaches the maximum value (peak time) of the dough. In comparison, the descending branch of the farinogram, which starts from the maximum value of the dough consistency (peak time), has a slow descending slope, because the kneading time is extended up to 20 minutes, and the consistency decreases relatively little. The paper presents the appreciation of this branch of the farinogram by mathematical equations for several types of doughs from wheat flour mixed with different percentages of salt.