Vertical brush seed metering device for sweet sugar beet planter

In crop production,the mean condition for high productivity depends on singular seed holding in metering device of sugar beet planters.A general design of vertical or horizontal feeding disc is only to plant the coated sugar beet seeds due to the irregularity of surrounding shape of seeds.The paper is focused on developed and constructed vertical brush metering device to plant the ordinary types of sugar beet seeds(multi or mono germs).The physical properties of sugar beet seed species have influences on the behavior of vertical brush metering device.To evaluate the vertical brush metering device,some properties of sugar beet species were determined and some experimental results of planting were identified in this paper.The main dimensions(length,width and thickness),sphericity,geometric and arithmetic mean diameter,surface area,bulk density and true density were identified as physical parameters.Meanwhile,the terminal velocity,and hardness were measured as engineering properties.The static coefficient of friction for multi-germ seeds under different surfaces(stainless steel,sheet galvanized,plastic and rubber)were 0.48±0.42;0.51±0.56;0.57±0.34 and 0.72±0.53 respectively,while they were 0.26±0.57;0.28±0.38;0.30±0.34 and 0.36±0.74 for the mono-germ seeds respectively under the above mentioned surfaces.The regressions analysis for the relationship between the main parameters of sugar beet seed indicated that the highest positive effective factors affecting the approximation physical sugar beet seeds properties is the width of sugar beet for multi-germ while the length is more effective for mono-germ seeds.The vertical brush metering device is one key part of sweet sugar beet planter;it was evaluated by assessing the actual relationship between the three density of hair per hole(50,75 and 100 hair/hole)and the feeding device parameters(seeding traveling and peripheral speeds of metering device).The seeds flow in brush device was controlled by seed lever control which lies in seed tank bottom.All parameters were measured at different levels of brush device with four peripheral speeds(0.16;0.24;0.32;and 0.4 m/s).Feeding quality,missing seeds,multiple indices and precision of seed index are the most common characteristics used to evaluate the metering device performance.The highest seed feed index was achieved on the brush device with hair density of 100 hair/hole for two different sugar beet varieties(Multi-germ of 83.07%and mono-germ of 80.56%).The lowest seed feed index was obtained from the experiments using the hair density of 50 hair/hole with peripheral brush speed of 0.4 m/s.The lower values of precision index indicate better performance of the brush device,therefore the lowest values were found at seeding speed of 2.0 m/s,0.3 m/s peripheral speed of feeding device and 100 hair/hole densities.

Moisture dependent physical and mechanical properties of chickpea seeds

The moisture-dependent physical properties are important in designing and fabricating equipment and structures for handling,transporting,processing and storage,and also for assessing quality.This study was carried out to determine the effect of moisture content on some physical and mechanical properties for two varieties of chickpea seeds(Giza 3,and Giza 195).Four levels of moisture content ranging from 11.6%d.b.(dry basis)to 25.4%d.b.were used.The average length,width,thickness,and geometric mean diameter ranged from(7.92±0.04)mm to(8.14±0.04)mm,(6.10±0.04)mm to(6.37±0.04)mm,(6.43±0.04)mm to(6.84±0.04)mm and(6.77±0.07)mm to(7.08±0.07)mm,respectively.The average sphericity and roundness ranged from(85.53±0.19)%to(87.00±0.19)%and(93.70±0.35)%to(94.14±0.35)%,respectively.The average measured surface area,calculated surface area,and projected area ranged from(144.73±1.55)mm2 to(158.78±1.55)mm2,(146.89±1.58)mm2 to(159.78±1.58)mm2,and(46.53±0.50)mm2 to(48.93±0.50)mm2,respectively.The average bulk density,true density,porosity and angle of repose ranged from(730.05±11.84)kg/m3 to(694.17±11.84)kg/m3,(1,225.12±19.51)kg/m3 to(1,308.02±19.51)kg/m3,(44.13±0.49)%to(43.29±0.49)%,and(25.20±0.41)o(degrees)to(29.10±0.41)o(degrees),respectively and also increased linearly with an increase in moisture content.The average seed weight and thousand seeds weight ranged from(0.142±0.002)gm to(0.184±0.002)gm,and(177.38±2.17)gm to(194.75±2.17)gm,respectively.The average static coefficient of friction against wood,stainless steel,galvanized iron and iron surfaces and internal with the same seeds ranged from(0.430±0.016)to(0.460±0.016),(0.321±0.007)to(0.366±0.007),(0.327±0.004)to(0.371±0.004),(0.412±0.011)to(0.496±0.011)and(0.638±0.022)to(0.741±0.022),respectively.The average terminal velocity ranged from(5.18±0.34)m/s to(9.14±0.34)m/s.The average penetration depth at load 6kg and tools diameter 1 mm was determined as mechanical property,and generally increased in magnitude with an increase in moisture content.The physical properties were linearly dependent upon moisture content.