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.

Design and tests of a rotary plug seedling pick-up mechanism for vegetable automatic transplanter

The rotary plug seedling pick-up mechanism for vegetable automatic transplanter is the technical bottleneck to improve the mechanization level of vegetable planting in China.In order to solve the problems of rotary seedling pick-up mechanism proposed in previous study,such as low success ratio of seedling pick-up at high speed,and interference between the seedling bowl and the end of the other seedling pick-up arm,a novel kind of rotary seedling pick-up mechanism of planetary gear train with combined type gears of incomplete denatured-eccentric-circular and non-circular gears was proposed.Through kinematic analysis of the seedling pick-up mechanism,the kinematics model was established.The computer-aided analysis and optimization software with human-computer interaction method was developed to realize parameters optimization of the seedling pick-up mechanism.Three-dimensional parametric design system of seedling pick-up mechanisms with combined non-circular gear transmission was developed for mechanism virtual simulation to verify the correctness of theoretical model and design results of the mechanism.The physical prototype of the mechanism was manufactured,and high-speed camera kinematics tests of the mechanism were conducted in the laboratory to study its kinematic characteristics.Laboratory seedling pick-up tests were carried out.The mechanism has the success ratio of seedling pick-up 96.3%without interference during seedling transporting when the rotation speed of the mechanism is 50 r/min and the seedling transplanting efficiency is 100 plants/min per row,showing that the novel mechanism has better working performance than the original one and could be applied in vegetable plug seedling transplanter.

Development of a multi-adaptive feeding device for automated plug seedling transplanter

In order to improve the adaptability of the seedling feeding devices to different plug trays for various seedlings,a multi-adaptive plug seedling feeding device for automatic field transplantation was developed.Its efficiency and adaptability have been improved using a seedling delivery device equipped with a row of end-effectors,which were provided with continuous plug seedlings by a compact seedling tray conveyor carrying out a reciprocating action.Each operation for the seedling feeding device could work automatically through a control system.Three categories of plug seedlings,cucumber,pepper and tomato seedlings were tested.The results of the performance test for the prototype demonstrated that the best performance emerged in the cucumber seedlings in 50-cell trays with the highest success rate of 88%at the feeding frequency of 6 groups/min.The lowest success rate was 73.33%for the tomato seedlings in 105-cell trays at the feeding frequency of 12 groups/min.It can be concluded that the automated feeding device developed in this study could be used for various plug seedlings as a result of its strong adaptability.