Influence of Suction Hole Diameter of Precision Seed Machine on the Characteristics of Feeding Corn and Sunflower Seeds

Abstract

Introduction. The study of working processes of row crop seeders, their improvement, increase in productivity and (or) quality of work are topical agroengineering tasks. Aim of the Article. The article deals with developing proposals to optimize the design of vacuum mechanisms for row crop seeders based on the analysis of the laws of the process of dosing sunflower and corn seeds by suction holes of the seed discs. Materials and Methods. The operation characteristics of the vacuum seeding mechanism depend on the diameter of the suction holes and the rarefaction in the vacuum chamber. Hypothetically, it can be assumed that with a constant calculated value of the suction force, it is possible to choose a ratio of these characteristics in which the number of skips and group feeding of seeds will not exceed the tolerance of agro-requirements. Verification of this assumption was carried out experimentally in laboratory conditions. Results. There were found polynomials describing with a fair degree of accuracy the dependence of formation of group feedings of sunflower and corn seeds on the diameter of suction holes. Discussion and Conclusion. The frequency of group feeding of the seeds less than 0.05% will be achieved with suction hole diameters of about 0.8 mm for sunflower and about 1.9 mm for corn. In this case, the values of rarefaction in the vacuum chamber must be 31–56 kPa that exceeds the capabilities of the pneumatic systems of existing row seeders. Accordingly, the modernization of the seeding mechanisms of vacuum row seeders by reducing the diameter of the suction holes should be accompanied by additional improvements aimed at increasing their gripping ability.