In comparison with drawn implements, rotary cultivators are of particular interest in final seedbed preparation. In this paper, a quantitative basis for the description of soil structure created by rotary tillers is given. Undisturbed Ap horizon samples were collected, impregnated with polyester resin, sectioned by sawing and analysed by means of a Quantimet 720 image-analysing computer. Total porosity, area and size of pores are related to the design and kinematic parameters of the rotary cultivator, arising from an analysis based upon the location of instant centres of velocity. It is shown that using a rotary cultivator with a higher ratio of peripheral to forward velocity leads to a smaller total mean porosity which is more homogeneous.
Small-scale farmers face to actual difficulties of applying pesticides accurately and safely on vegetables crops. They mainly use hand operated sprayers. As an issue, a small direct injection system based on a five meter’s parallel boom layout was designed to improve chemical application. The boom layout was optimized to obtain the same minimal time lag response for the ten nozzles. The dynamic of the system was modeled using Simulink TM as first order model with delay. Two control strategies were implemented using PID (Proportional Integral Derivative) feedback control loops to monitor tracer injection (fluorescing) proportionally to simulated forward speed (from 0.6 to 1.2 m/s) and to control the constant operating pressure (constant carrier flow strategy) or the variable operating pressure proportionally to the injected chemical amount (variable total flow strategy). Different forward speed changes were induced using steps up and down, ramps, sine waves and sweeps excitations to evaluate the control feedback. The system stability was tested for its ability to maintain the expected concentration and application rate. The results show that the time lag remains less than 3 s (dead time < 2 s, time constant < 1 s) and the system keeps stable for the maximal speed variation (ΔV) and acceleration (ā) tested (ΔV = 200%, ā = 0.48 m/s2) which induce less than 10% variation of application rate.
Abstract. Assessment of injection lag transport and uniformity of direct injection boom sprayer is an important issue for successful variable rate spraying technology. To estimate the boom lag transport and pressure loss, a numerical model is formulated on the basis of fluid hydrodynamic conservation equations. The software is implemented in visual basic. To solve the pressure -velocities equations, control volume finite element method (CV) is used to delimit elementary volumes of the boom. Linearization of the conservation laws is ensured by considering discrete form of the equations and calculating velocity and pressure step by step throughout the whole boom. The flow behaviour is simulated into a boom section divided into N elementary volumes, each of them including one nozzle.To
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