Mechanical Analysis of Rice Canopy Using Explicit Dynamics and Practical Applications of Canopy Opener

Abstract

Open-canopy pesticide application technology is not affected by the canopy structure and can substantially increase droplet penetration and deposition in the middle and lower rice canopy. However, the optimal working position of the canopy opener is difficult to determine. The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of rice canopy disturbances under the action of a canopy opener, verify simulation results using high-speed photography tests, and identify the spraying effect of the optimal operating parameters of a canopy opener through spray tests. The mechanical characteristic parameters of the rice heading stage were determined through experiments, and the canopy-opening process was simulated based on the finite element method of explicit dynamics. The simulation results show that when the speed of the canopy opener is 1.2 m s−1 and the height is 0.6 m, the rice canopy is the most disturbed. The spray experiment results show that under this condition, the overall coverage rate of the rice canopy is relatively high, and the coverage rates of the upper, middle, and lower layers of rice are 92.18%, 66.43%, and 52.84%, respectively.

Spray performance of flexible shield canopy opener and rotor wind integrated boom‐sprayer application in soybean: effects on droplet deposition distribution

“…In order to effectively open the dense canopy, researchers have proposed a new method known as ‘canopy opener’ pesticide application technology 15 . The method is not affected by the structure of the crop canopy and the canopy opener opens the crop canopy to create a droplet transport channel so that the droplets enter the lower and middle parts of the crop canopy smoothly 16 . Research into the canopy opener pesticide application technique is still at the prototype testing stage, but the results of available studies have shown that the method helps to improve droplet deposition inside the dense canopy 17–20 .…”