Research Of Key Technologies On Automatic High-speed Chain Paper Pot Seedling Transplanter For Sugar Beet

Comparing to traditional seeding cultivation, yield and sugar content of sugar beet were increased by paper pot seedling and transplanting, but seedling area in China is only 12% of total planted area, as well as the lack of matching equipment hinders the promotion and application of seedling and transplantering machinery. Therefore, the research of seedling transplanter in domestic was surveyed, and these questions are summarized as follows:the seedling technology is not organically combined with transplanting machinery, and agricultural machinery is not suited for agronomy; the most of study focus on semi-automatic seedling transplanter, and this transplanter was limited by speed of manual feeding seedlings using manual operation, so operating efficiency is low and labor is intensive; the basic research is not deep and systematic for automatic seedling transplanter, and the important improvement and breakthrough for technology is difficult to obtain; the paper pot seedling production is not organically combined with seedling and transplanting technologies, and the level of mechanization is low.In this research, therefore, the basic study was done on the chain paper pot, the influence of planting seedling morphology on sugar yield, high-speed orderly separation device and transplanting device. The questions for limiting transplanter performance, including speed of artificial feeding seedling or mechanical supplying seedling in sequence, and operating speed, were solved. The main content and conclusion is as follows:1,Chain paper pot for automatic transplanter was developed and parameters of chain paper pot were studied by experiment. A central composite rotatable orthogonal experimental design of response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to find the optimum parameters combination of chain paper pot's bonding portion (CBP) were obtained to affect the pulling-pot length and the damage rate of chain paper pot. The pulling-pot length and the paper pot damage rate of chain paper pot were used as response functions, and four parameters, namely, the amount of uncut portion (AUP),the length of uncut portion (LUP), the length of separation-guide-portion (LSP) and the pulling speed (PS) were selected as influence factors. The effects of every factor on objective function were analyzed, and the two optimum combinations for four indexes were obtained, which one was 3～4 of AUP, 5～6mm of LUP,20mm of LSP and 100mm/s of PS, and the other was 3 of AUP,6mm of LUP,18-20mm of LSP and 60-100mm/s of PS. The optimum results were the pulling-pot length more than 700mm and the damage rate of chain paper pot less than 4%;2,Weight and diameter of paper pot seedling, friction coefficients between bottom of seedling and steel as well as between seedling side and sponge or rubber, the anti-compression property were measured. The diameter of short axis was 15.57±2.78mm, and the diameter of long axis was 20.56±2.16mm and weight was 51.14±6.68g. The friction coefficient between bottom of chain paper pot and steel was 0.62±0.02, and the coefficient of variation was 3%. The friction coefficient between seedling side and rubber was 0.78±0.02, and the coefficient of variation was 1%. The friction coefficient between seedling side and rubber was 0.99±0.06, and the coefficient of variation was 6%. Based on chain paper pot, the overall design of the automatic transplanter was carried out.3,Effects of perpendicularity, nudity high, burying high of paper pot seedling on seedling percent, yield, sugar content and sugar yield of sugar beet were analyzed using a single factor randomized block design. The results showed that the impacts of perpendicularity of seedling were significant on seedling percent, yield and sugar yield, while there was not influence on sugar content. When perpendicularity of seedling was less than 30°, the effect of perpendicularity of seedling on seedling percent was significant. While perpendicularity of seedling is less than 60°, yield and sugar yield would decrease sharply. Effects of nudity high and burying high were significant on yield and sugar yield, while there were not influence on seedling percent and sugar content. When nudity height and burying height of seedling was between 1 and 3 cm, yield and sugar yield would decrease significantly.4,Study on optimization of main separator parameters for chain pot seedling of sugar beet. A central composite rotatable orthogonal experimental design of response surface methodology was employed to find the optimum combination of main working and structural parameters to effect on the separator properties. The separating efficiency, the paper pot damage percent and the seedling damage percent were used as objective functions, and three parameters, namely, the pulling speed(PS), speed ratio(SR) and angle of separating wheel(ASW) were selected as influence factors. The effects of every factor on objective function were analyzed, and the optimum combination for four indexes, which was 80-95mm/s (3-4 plant/sec) of PS,4.8-5 of SR and 15°of ASW, were obtained. The optimum results were chain pot separation efficiency more than 95%, and the paper pot damage less than 4%, as well as the seedling damage less than 5%.5,Operating parameter of planting apparatus with belt was studied. According to a orthogonal experimental design, the optimum parameter combination were obtained that opening size of divided seedling slot was 24mm, and the work speed was 0.50m/s(2 plant/sec), angle of the planting apparatus was 40°, the relative location between opener and covering and press wheel, which was the overlap between the front of covering and press wheel and the end of opener, was 50mm. It was proved by validation test that both of Spacing qualified percent and the standing-seedling percent were more than 95%.The optimum parameters of structure and operating were studied on the chain paper pot, high-speed orderly separation device and transplanting device on indoor test-bed. Some structure and parameters was still adjusted in the further research by prototype test in field, so that the operating quality and efficiency can be improved. These key technologies on Automatic High-speed chain paper pot seedling transplanter for sugar beet were systematic researched, which laid the foundation for the development of automatic high-speed seedling transplanter.