Bionic Design of Liquid Fertilizer Deep Application Spray Needle, Based on Badger Claw-Toe, for Improving the Operating Performance of Liquid Fertilizer Deep Application in Northeast China

Abstract

Deep application of liquid fertilizer is a technique that applies liquid fertilizer deep near the root system of crops, which has many advantages such as high fertilizer utilization rate and low environmental pollution. However, high power and high specific energy consumption caused by soil-engaging components in liquid fertilizer deep application make it difficult to popularize in northeast China. The claw-toe structure of burrowing animals has the characteristics of low resistance and low friction, which has been the focus of many scholars’ research on soil-engaging components. The claw-toe structure of the badger, a widely distributed burrowing animal in northeast China, has good characteristics of low power and low specific energy consumption. Therefore, in this research, a bionic liquid fertilizer deep application spray needle was designed, based on the claw-toe structure of the badger, to improve the operating performance of liquid fertilizer deep application. In this research, the discrete element method (DEM) was used for a computer simulation test, and the indoor soil bin verification test was carried out. The results showed that the operating angle, operating speed and fertilization depth of bionic liquid fertilizer deep application spray needle had significant effects on the power and specific energy consumption, and the optimal operating performance combination of bionic liquid fertilizer deep application spray needle was obtained as follows: The fertilization depth is 60 mm; the operating speed is 6 km h−1; the operating angle is 24.8°; the power consumption is 0.066 kW; and the specific energy consumption is 4.257 kJ m−3 under this operating condition. Through the comparison of operating performance, the operating performance of the bionic liquid fertilizer deep application spray needle is significantly better than that of other types of liquid fertilizer deep application furrow opener, with the power reduced by 9.52~40.5% and the specific energy consumption reduced by 93.9~208.6%. This research clarified the internal mechanism affecting the operating performance. Finally, based on the above findings, this research suggests that more attention should be paid to finding suitable bionic prototype and design scheme in the future design and research of soil-engaging components of liquid fertilizer deep application.