Abstract

The main objective of this study was to investigate the performance of a single pneumatic plate with four-rows for rapeseed precision using an adjustable plastic slice for changing vacuum around the metering nozzle entrance. The slice was located near plate surface at seed pick-up area of rows holes closer to the rotation center of the plate (row 1and 2) owing to their multiple seed pick-up. Five clearances between the slice and plate surface have been inspected at 15 and 20 r/min combined with their optimum vacuum amount to detect the best clearance for same rows seed pick-up. Laboratory test demonstrated that 1 mm was the best clearance, which in turns used for verifying seed distribution regularity among the rows. Results disclosed that the optimum negative pressure associated with 15 r/min and 20 r/min were 1.15 kPa and 1.25 kPa, respectively. 15 r/min resulted in quality index of 91.34%, 92.83%, 91.7% and 90.65%, while 20 r/min attained 89.81%, 92.23%, 89.86% and 92.05% for rows 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. The highest seed feed index was obtained by row 2 at both speeds, while the lowest value (89.81%) was achieved by row1 at 20 r/min. Both the separate rows stability and rows consistency resulted in less than 2%, with some tendency of 15r/min to be more consistent than 20r/min. Results concluded that the multi-rows pneumatic plate coupled with plastic slice technique is able to satisfy the required seed precision without damage which could be employed for further advanced investigations.

Keywords:

Multi-row plate, pneumatic metering device, rapeseed, seed precision,

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