The working body for the application of mineral fertilizers

Abstract

Currently, for the surface application of fertilizers, both in Europe as well as in Russia, spreader devices of various designs and arrangements are used. The metering devices in them, as a rule, are centrifugal type disk mechanisms with a vertical axis of rotation. Overview and analysis of their work shows that they do not completely meet the agrotechnical requirements, namely, distribute fertilizers on the soil surface with significant deviations from the permissible unevenness. Therefore, the development of a working body for increasing the uniformity of the distribution of mineral fertilizers over the field surface is an urgent challenge. The uniformity of the distribution of mineral fertilizers by a centrifugal working body is based on the difference in the speeds of fertilizer’s granules at the moment of their descent from the working body. The magnitude of the velocity affects the range of flight of particles (the coverage) and depends on the structural and kinematic parameters of the working body. At the department of agricultural machines of the Mordovia State University a centrifugal working body has been developed, at any point of which the descent of mineral fertilizer’s granules proceeding at different speeds. That had been achieved through the the fact that the working body contains a conical surface, along the generatrix of which, blades of different lengths are rigidly fastened. When working, the fertilizers are fed to the conical part and are distributed in a uniform layer and continue directed movement along the conical surface. The circumferential velocity of the working surface towards the base increases, and consequently the velocity of particle descent from different points of the working surface increases. The rest of the fertilizers flows continuously to the spherical disk and is directed to the soil surface by the blades. From blades of different lengths, fertilizers come off at different heights, at different angles of inclination to the horizon and at different speeds, which will affect the uniformity of their application. The results of the investigations are showed that the use of the experimental working body allows to increase the working width from 10 to 14 m and to reduce the uneven distribution of mineral fertilizers over the total width by 14,2 %.