Automatic feeding mechanism of a vegetable transplanter

An automatic feeding mechanism consisting of a timing shaft,an actuating device and a clutch for feeding paper pot seedlings from a horizontal slat type chain conveyor to a horizontal pusher type chain conveyor of a vegetable transplanter,was developed.The slat type chain conveyor carried the pot seedlings in upright orientation in the form of a rectangular array with each linear array of pot seedlings on a slat.The pusher type chain conveyor received a linear array of pot seedlings and delivered them to the seedling drop tube.Feeding of each linear array of pot seedlings to the pusher type conveyor at appropriate times was done using an automatic feeding mechanism.The laboratory evaluation indicated that the feeding rate of 33 to 50 pot seedlings per minute can be achieved with single set of conveyors.The feeding mechanism also worked effectively under actual field conditions with 98%to 99%of all the pot seedlings,which were properly separated and fed for planting when the forward speed of the vegetable transplanter was 0.9 km/h.The feeding mechanism has the general application of singulating rectangular array of items on the slat type chain conveyor in any industry and machine in motion on a level surface.

Experimental clearance rate and intraguild predation of jellyfish Cyanea nozakii

Cyanea nozakii,a common jellyfish distributed in offshore China,has a complex trophic relationship with other zooplankton groups.However,few studies have reported the predation rates and prey selection patterns of C.nozakii medusae on different prey items.Research is also lacking on the intraguild predation of Aurelia coerulea(another common bloom jellyfish in offshore China)by C.nozakii.To address the knowledge gaps,the clearance rates of C.nozakii for different prey items,including copepods(small<1000μm and large>1000μm),fish larvae,and gelatinous prey(hydromedusae,A.coerulea ephyrae,and chaetognaths),were measured.The influence of predator size on the clearance rate was also determined.Additionally,we examined the intraguild predation of C.nozakii on A.coerulea medusae.The clearance rates of C.nozakii varied widely with prey organisms,being independent of prey concentrations.Gelatinous organisms,except for chaetognaths,were captured with considerably high efficiency,followed by fish larvae and copepods,indicating the preferential prey selection of gelatinous organisms by C.nozakii.The clearance rate increased linearly with the cross-sectional area of C.nozakii.Body size in medusae may,to some extents,underpin their capacity to capture more prey by increasing the encounter rate and capture success through ontogeny.C.nozakii preyed voraciously on A.coerulea in high feeding efficiency,but the clearance rate decreased with increasing A.coerulea(as prey)size.This phenomenon of intraguild predation suggests a speculative hypothesis of potential population regulation of A.coerulea by C.nozakii.The information regarding the feeding ecology of C.nozakii reported in this study is important for understanding plankton dynamics in marine ecosystems with extensive occurrences of this jellyfish.

The control of welding wire feed self-adaptive mechanism based on fuzzy PID

The welding wire feed mechanism is an important component of welding equipment, both reliability and stabilization are the premise that the welding quality can be ensured. The PID is currently adapted to control the welding wire feed mechanism, although the fuzzy PID has advantage of fast response and adaptation, the precision of fuzzy PID is lower. Accordingly, the fuzzy self-adaptive PID controller was proposed through changing fuzzy input variables and output variables based on variable universe, simple furwtion is adopted as scaling factor, the fuzzy PID controller parameters are adjusted to improve the precision and adjustment range. Simulation results show that control effects of fuzzy self-adaptive PID adopted by the welding wire feed mechanism have good adaptive ability and robustness based on variable universe, the welding experiments indicate that the welding quality met the requirements actually.

Experimental study on baling rice straw silage

For resolving harvesting technology of fresh rice straw silage and plugging of the round steel-roll baler in China,experimental researches were carried out.For harvesting technology,baling silage and chopping silage were experimented.For the round baler,three kinds of feeding rolls equipped for enhancing feeding capability were experimented separately by reliability.Experimental results indicate:harvesting technology of baling fresh rice straw as silage is practicable;slicing-disc feeding rolls can be used to the baler to resolve plugging in straw-baling course.And through further experiments by reliability and density,optimal structure of the feeding roll is obtained:big and small slicing-discs arranged in interval and inclination,distance between slicing-discs being 30-40 mm.