Effect of Performance of Soil Cultivator with Different Surface Textures of Shovel Wing

Ming Wang,Wuquan Wei,Zhiqi Zheng,Zuoli Fu,Yuxiang Huang

doi:10.3390/agriculture11111039

Abstract

Cultivating the soil is a necessary measure to ensure the growth of potatoes, and it has a significant impact on potato yield. In this study, a soil cultivator with a textured shovel wing was designed to address the problem that soil cultivators have poor working performance. Based on a combination of discrete element simulation and a digital soil trench verification test, the effects of the structure parameters of the surface textures on the traction resistance and soil fragmentation rate of the soil cultivator with a textured shovel wing were studied. These parameters were optimized to provide a basis for the design of the soil cultivator. The main research results of this paper are as follows. (1) The factors influencing the traction resistance of the soil cultivator were as follows: blade penetration angle > convex hull distance > convex hull diameter. The convex hull diameter was the main factor affecting the soil fragmentation rate. The traction resistance of the soil cultivator with a textured wing was reduced by 9.49%, and the soil fragmentation rate was increased by 10.67%, showing that the quality of soil cultivation was significantly improved. (2) The best parameters for the texture structure of the shovel wing were a blade penetration angle of 26°, a convex hull diameter of 34.4 mm, and a convex hull distance of 28.5 mm. (3) The relative errors between the simulation and the soil trench test for the traction resistance and the soil fragmentation rate were 2.60% and 13.97%, respectively. This study can provide technical support for the design of soil cultivators and is of great significance in improving the quality of soil cultivators.

Highlights

Soil cultivation during the potato seedling stage is an important measure to improve the yield and quality of potatoes
According to the previous analysis, the factors that affected the quality of the soil cultivator with a textured shovel wing mainly included speed, blade penetration angle, convex hull diameter, height–diameter ratio, and distance
The basic working and structural parameters of the single-factor simulation test research were a speed of 1.0 m/s, a blade penetration angle of 26◦, a convex hull height–diameter ratio of 0.3, a convex hull distance of 30 mm, and a convex hull diameter of 32 mm

Summary

Introduction

Soil cultivation during the potato seedling stage is an important measure to improve the yield and quality of potatoes. The types of soil cultivators in fields include rotary soil cultivators, wall soil cultivators, and spiral soil cultivators [3] These devices can be used for potato soil cultivation, but there are problems such as a low soil fragmentation rate and a high traction resistance when working in heavy clay soil. Liu optimized the design of the potato ridging device based on a simulation model of the contact surface between earthworms and soil [10,11]. The traditional cultivator has a low soil fragmentation rate and a high traction resistance under heavy clay soil conditions, decreasing the yield and quality of potatoes and increasing the working costs.

The Surface Texture Structure Design of Shovel Wing

Experimental Method

The Single-Factor Simulation Test

Soil Trench Verification Test

Conclusions