Journal of Biosystems Engineering

Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery (한국농업기계학회)
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Analysis and Control of Uniformity by the Feed Gate Adaptation of a Granular Spreader

입제비료 살포기의 출구조절에 의한 균일도의 분석과 제어

  • Kweon, G. (Veris Technologies) ;
  • Grift, Tony E. (Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Illinois) ;
  • Miclet, Denis (Agricultural and Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CEMAGREF)) ;
  • Virin, Teddy (Agricultural and Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CEMAGREF)) ;
  • Piron, Emmanuel (Agricultural and Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CEMAGREF))
  • Published : 2009.04.25
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Abstract

A method was proposed which employed control of the drop location of fertilizer particles on a spinner disc to optimize the spread pattern uniformity. The system contained an optical sensor as a feedback mechanism, which measured discharge velocity and location, as well as particle diameters to predict a spread pattern of a single disc. Simulations showed that the feed gate adaptation algorithm produced high quality patterns for any given application rate in the dual disc spreader. The performance of the feed gate control method was assessed using data collected from a Sulky spinner disc spreader. The results showed that it was always possible to find a spread pattern with an acceptable CV lower than 15%, even though the spread pattern was obtained from a rudimentary flat disc with straight radial vanes. A mathematical optimization method was used to find the initial parameter settings for a specially designed experimental spreading arrangement, which included the feed gate control system, for a given flow rate and swath width. Several experiments were carried out to investigate the relationship between the gate opening and flow rate, disc speed and particle velocity, as well as disc speed and predicted landing location of fertilizer particles. All relationships found were highly linear ($r^2$ > 0.96), which showed that the time-of-flight sensor was well suited as a feedback sensor in the rate and uniformity controlled spreading system.

Keywords

References

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