Development and First Results of a No-Till Pneumatic Seeder for Maize Precise Sowing in Huang-Huai-Hai Plain of China

Abstract

In Huang-Huai-Hai plain of China, farmers collect the maize straw for livestock during maize harvest to increase their revenue. To maintain the sustainable productivity of the soil, all straw after the wheat harvest is returned to the field. This straw brings difficulties in the no-till seeding for maize after wheat harvest, and thus it is necessary to develop efficient no-till seeders that can cope with heavy residue and improve sowing quality. In this work, we designed a wide-strip-till no-till pneumatic maize (WNPM) seeder to satisfy the need in this plain. The key parameters of the opposite-placed anti-blocking mechanism of the WNPM seeder were determined via the discrete element method (DEM) technology, while the parameters of the pneumatic maize seed meter were specified using the coupled simulation of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and DEM. We also carried out field experiment to test the performance of our machine. Under the operating speed of 8 km/h, the soil disturbance was 38.2%. Moreover, the straw cleaning rate achieved 94.4% in the seeding belt while the residue cover index of the seed plot was over 58%, and the seeding performance was improved significantly. The qualified seed spacing index, uniformity variation coefficient, qualified index of sowing depth and variation coefficient of sowing depth were 96.6%, 19.1%, 95.1% and 3.2%, respectively. In general, the WNPM seeder improves the working efficiency of maize sowing because both the reliable working speed and the sowing quality were increased. These results are of considerable importance for crop production in Huang-Huai-Hai plain of China.

Design and Experiment of Symmetrical Spiral Row-Sorting of the Straw Device Based on Kinematics Analysis

“…The SSM discharged the straw that fell into the straw hopper to both sides of the seeding belt, and the straw would fall to the non-sowing area between the seed belts under gravity to achieve the effect of seed belt cleaning. In addition, a small part of the straw was directly thrown into the non-sowing area between the The SSRSD comprised RB (6), spiral shaft (5), straw hopper (9), straw baffle (10), rolling bearing (8), support-connecting frame (11), and spiral shaft positioning plate (7). The RB (6) was welded on the spiral shaft (5).…”

“…The RB (6) was welded on the spiral shaft (5). The shaft heads of the two spiral shafts (5) passed through the center of the rolling bearing (8) and were installed in the spiral shaft positioning plate (7) on the support-connecting frame (11), which was welded on the frame (4). The straw hopper (9) was located just below the spiral shaft (5), and the top of the straw hopper (9) was connected to the bottom of the straw baffle (10) by bolts.…”

“…Maize is the previous crop when winter wheat is no-tillage sowing in Huang-Huai-Hai's annual double cropping areas. After chopping and returning to the field, maize straw is extensive, and the viscous drag between straws is significant [4][5][6][7]. Furthermore, due to agronomic conditions, the row spacing of no-till wheat planting is narrow, so the spacing between furrowing openers of the no-till wheat planter is small, too.…”

Design and Experiment of Spiral Discharge Anti-Blocking and Row-Sorting Device of Wheat No-Till Planter

“…The problems of the poor passing capacity of the machine and poor furrowing effect are severe [5][6][7][8][9], and if the straw or stubble falls on with the helix direction of the spiral blade (10), the two spiral shafts (13) were reversely installed in the rolling bearing (11), fixed on the support-connecting frame (8) through the inclined anti-winding plate (12), and the support-connecting frame (8) was welded on the frame (5). Holding hopper (9) was located directly below the spiral blade (10), and there was a gap between the bottom of the holding hopper (9) and the soil surface (14) (essential position parameter h), which was not in contact with the soil. 11, rolling bearing; 12, inclined anti-winding plate; 13, spiral shaft; 14, soil.…”

“…h is the height of the hopper above the ground, mm. h also indicates a gap between the hopper (9) and the soil (14). Moreover, there is no contact.…”