• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.304-312
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• 2016

Purpose: Soil strength has been measured using a cone penetrometer, which is making it difficult to obtain the spatial data required for precision agriculture. Our objectives were to evaluate real-time horizontal soil strength (RHSS) to measure soil strength in real time while moving across the field. Using the RHSS data, the tillage depth was determined, and the power consumption of a tractor and rotavators were compared. Methods: The horizontal soil-strength index (HSSI) obtained by the RHSS was compared with the cone index (CI), which was measured using a cone penetrometer. Comparison analysis in accordance with the measurement depth that increased at 5-cm interval was conducted using kriged maps at six sensing depths. For tillage control and evaluation of the power consumption, the system was installed with a potentiometer for tillage depth, a torque sensor from the rear axle, and a power take-off (PTO) shaft. Results: The HSSI was lower than the CI, but they were the same at 54.81% of the total grids for the 5-cm depth and at 3.85% for the 10-cm depth. In accordance with the recommended tillage map, tillage operations between 0 and 15 cm left 2.3% and 7% residue cover on the soil, and that between 20 and 10 cm covered a wider utilization of 3% and 18.4%, respectively. When the tillage depth was 15 cm, the comparison result of the power requirements between the PTO and rear axle in terms of control performance revealed that the maximum power requirements of the axle and PTO were 44.63 and 23.24 kW, respectively. Conclusions: An HSSI measurement system was evaluated by comparison with the conventional soil strength measurement system (CI) and applied to a tractor to compare the tillage power consumption. Further study is needed on its application to various farm works using a tractor for precision agriculture.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.16-27
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• 1987

Greenhouse farming was introduced to the Korean farmers in the middle of 1950's and its area has been increased annually. The plastic greenhouse, which is covered with polyethylene or polyvinyl chloride film, has been rapidly spread in greenhouse farming since 1970. The greenhouse farming greatly contributed to the increase of farm household income and the improvement of crop productivity per unit area. Since the greenhouse farming is generally practiced during winter, from November to March, the thermal environment in the plastic greenhouse should be controlled in order to maintain favorable condition for plant growing. Main factors that influence the thermal environment in the plastic greenhouse are solar radiation, convective and radiative heat transfer among the thermal component of the greenhouse, and the use of heat source. The objective of this study was to develop a simulation model for thermal environment of the plastic greenhouse in order to determine the characteristics of heat flow and effects of various ambient environmental conditions upon thermal environments within the plastic greenhouse. The results obtained are summarized as follows: 1. Simulation model for thermal environment of the plastic greenhouse was developed, resulting in a good agreement between the experimental and predicted data. 2. Solar radiation being absorbed in the plant and soil during the daytime was 75 percent of the total solar radiation and the remainder was absorbed in the plastic cover. 3. About 83 percent of the total heat loss was due to convective and radiative heat transfer through the plastic cover. Air ventilation heat loss was 5 to 6 percent of total heat loss during the daytime and 16 to 17 percent during the night. 4. The effectiveness of thermal curtain for the plastic greenhouse at night was significantly increased by the increase of the inside air temperature of the greenhouse due to the supplementary heat. 5. When the temperature difference between the inside and outside of the greenhouse was small, the variation of ambient wind velocity did not greatly affect on the inside air temperature. 6. The more solar radiation in the plastic greenhouse was, the higher the inside air temperature. Because of low heat storage capacity of the plant and soil inside the greenhouse and a relatively high convective heat loss through the plastic cover, the increase of solar radiation during the daytime could not reduce the supplymentary heat requirement for the greenhouse during the night.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.53-61
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• 1982

As an attempt to reduce the consumption of petroleum resources and to improve the performance of a kerosene engine, a series of experiments was conducted using several kinds of ethanol-kerosene blends under the various compression ratios. The engine used in this study was a single-cylinder, four-cycle kerosene engine having a compression ratio of 4.5. To investigate the feasibility of ethanol-kerosene blends in the original engine, kerosene and blends of 5-percent, 10-percent, and 20-percent-ethanol, by volume, with kerosene were used. And to investigate the feasibility of improving the performance of the kerosene engine, a portion of the cylinder head was cut off to increase the compression ratio up to 5.0 by reducing the combustion chamber volume. Kerosene and blends of 30-percent and 40-percent-ethanol, by volume, with kerosene were used for the modified engine with an increased compression ratio. Variable speed tests at wide-open throttle were also conducted at five speed levels in the range of 1000 to 2200 rpm for each compression ratio and fuel type. Volumetric efficiency, engine torque, and brake specific fuel consumption were determined, and brake thermal efficiency based on the lower heating values of kerosene and ethanol was calculated. The results obtained in the study are summarized as follows: A. Test with the original engine: (1) No abnormal conditions were found when burning ethanol-kerosene blends in the original engine. (2) Volumetric efficiency increased with ethanol concentration in blends. When burning blends of 5-percent, 10-percent, and 20-percent ethanol, by volume, with kerosene, average volumetric efficiency increased 1.6 percent, 2.6 percent, and 4.1 percent respectively, than when burning kerosene. (3) Mean engine torque increased 5.2 percent for 5-percent-ethanol blend, 9.3 percent for 10-percent-ethanol blend, and 11.5 percent for 20-percent-ethanol blend than for kerosene. Increase in engine torque when using ethanol-kerosene blends was due to the improved combustion characteristics of ethanol as well as an increase in volumetric efficiency. (4) Up to ethanol concentration of 20 percent, mean brake specific fuel consumption was nearly constant inspite of the difference in heating value between ethanol and kerosene. (5) Brake thermal efficiency increased 0.3 percent for 5-percent-ethanol blend, 3.8 percent for 10-percent-ethanol blend, and 6.8 percent for 20-percent-ethanol blend than for kerosene. B. Test with the modified engine with an increased compression ratio: (1) When burning kerosene, mean volumetric efficiency, engine torque, and brake thermal efficiency were somewhat lower than for the original engine. (2) Engine torque increased 15.1 percent for 30-percent-ethanol blend and 18.4 percent for 40-percent-ethanol blend than for kerosene. (3) There was no significant difference in brake specific fuel consumption regardless of ethanol concentration in blends. (4) Brake thermal efficiency increased 15.0 percent for 30-percent-ethanol blend and 19. 5 percent for 40-percent-ethanol blend than for kerosene.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.267-273
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• 2008

Energy efficiency and nutrient balance are good methods for environmental assessment of the environmentally-friendly agriculture. The objectives of this study were 1) to estimate the energy efficiency and nutrient balance of the organic rice farming, and 2) to suggest a solution to improvement the energy efficiency and nutrient balance. The set of estimation was performed at the organic rice farming area (8.9 ha) in Wanju-gun during the paddy cultivation period from 2006 to 2007. The organic farming complex consists of four weeding methods using 1) duck, 2) apple snail, 3) duck and apple snail and 4) hands and machinery. Results from this estimation should that the organic rice farming area was less efficient than conventional rice farming. The efficiency of organic farming area in 2006 was higher than in 2007. For the calculation of the nutrient balance, the N, P and K contents of input materials (cattle manure, milk vetch, mixed oilcake, rice bran, rice straw and barley straw) and output (farm products) were analysed. Annual environmental loads of N, $P_2O_5$ and $K_2O$ were estimated at 4.4 kg/10a, 13.8 kg/10a and 14.5 kg/10a, respectively. Cattle manure had the largest portion among the inputs items and nutrient concentration of cattle manure was high. Thus energy efficiency and nutrient balance depend on cattle manure input. Therefore it is necessary to control the manure input to improve the efficiency of organic rice farming.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.1-8
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• 1982

The objective of this study was to find out the technical feasibility of ethanol-diesel fuel blends as a diesel engine fuel. Fuel properties essential to the proper operation of a diesel engine were determined for blends containing several concentrations of ethanol in No. 2 diesel fuel. A single-cylinder diesel engine for a power tiller was used for the engine tests, in which load, speed and fuel consumption rate were measured. The fuels used in tests were No. 2 diesel fuel and a blend containing 10-percent ethanol and 90-percent No. 2 diesel fuel. The results of the study are summarized as follows. 1. It was not possible to blend ethanol and No. 2 diesel fuel as a homogeneous solution even though anhydrous ethanol was used. The problem of blending ethanol in No. 2 diesel fuel could be solved by adding butanol about 5% of the amount of ethanol in the blends. 2. Because ethanol had a much lower boiling point ($78.3^{\circ}C$ under atmospheric pressure) than a diesel fuel, it was necessary to store ethanol-diesel fuel blends airtight in order to prevent them from evaporation losses of ethanol. 3. The addition of ethanol to No. 2 diesel fuel lowered the fuel viscosity and the cetane rating, but a blend of 10% ethanol and 90% diesel fuel had a viscosity and a cetane rating well above the KS minimum values for No. 2 diesel fuel. 4. At the rated speed, the specific fuel consumption of No.2 diesel fuel was lower than that of the 10% ethanol blend for the almost entire range of load. However, under the overload condition the specific fuel consumption was lower for the 10% ethanol blend. 5. Under the variable-speed full-load tests, both fuels produced approximately the same torque and power. At the speeds of 1600rpm or below, the specific fuel consumption of No. 2 diesel fuel was lower than that of the 10% ethanol blend. At the speeds of 1600rpm or above, however, the specific fuel consumption was lower for the 10% ethanol blend. 6. At the ambient temperature above $15^{\circ}C$, the use of the 10% ethanol blend in the engine created a vapor lock in the fuel injection pump and stalled the engine. The vapor locking problem was overcome by chilling the surroundings of the fuel injection pump and the cylinder head with water.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.139-161
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• 2020

The aims of this study were to classify the cultivation status of medicinal crop farmers and to obtain basic data on domestic medicinal crops. To this end, 406 medicinal crop farmers participating in farming education programs in 14 cities and counties were surveyed over 10 months. The results were as follows. First, the biggest difficulty farmers faced in the overall production of medicinal crops was a lack of cultivation skills. Second, in a detailed inquiry about each difficulty item, the most difficult problems were injury by continuous cropping of root-using crops, shortage of specific farm machinery, uncertain market prices, and lack of knowledge about pest control or the positive list system (PLS). Third, the profitability of medicinal crops increased with career experience. Among the farmers who earned profits, requests for education and technical guidance were the most important factors for profitability. Fourth, the results of the analysis suggest that to achieve stable cultivation of medicinal crops, the following items need to be addressed: development and supply of basic cultivation technologies, climate response, registration of pest control pesticides, a solution to the injury by continuous cropping, and contracting cultivation expansion. Additionally, to improve profitability, it is necessary to create conditions that enable the same crops to grow for a long time in one region.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.139-153
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• 2007

Injury in agriculture is a serious public health issue with a major impact on the lives of Korean farmers. It is one of the leading causes of death and is also a major cause of longand short-term disability. In 2001, the social cost of one accident in agricultural machinery was estimated as 97.7-97.8 million won that is 4 fold of farm household income in Korea. Effective prevention and control of injuries requires a system of surveillance that monitors the incidence of injuries, their causes, treatment and outcomes. This requires an integrated system of data collection, analysis and interpretation and communication. Creating effective injury surveillance system in Korea requires to establish a framework for a national agenda. Discussions regarding the development of the framework should address, but not be limited to issues related to Data Holdings and Linkages; Capacity and Skills; Communication; Interconnection; and Surveillance Products. Ideally, an injury surveillance system would meet the information requirements across all sectors, while allowing each to have the ongoing information it needs for its policy and programming needs. This study was carried out to develop a surveillance system of agricultural injuries in Korea. Study subjects were residents who lived in a typical agricultural area (Yangpyung area in Kyung-gi province). The main data sources were reports of village headmen, compared with data of 'National Emergency Management Agency', 'National Health Insurance Corporation', 'Insurance of National Agricultural Cooperative', and 'Emergency Medical Centers'. Each data were reviewed to validate the strengths and weaknesses.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.69-75
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• 2014

Purpose: This paper is aimed at analyzing the heating performance of the vertical closed loop type Geothermal Heat Pump System (GHPS) distributing the farm site and providing basic data of the GHPS. Method: Seedling greenhouse heating was made from October 2012 to May 2013. The seedling greenhouse was divided into 4 sectors (A, B, C and D zone, total $3,300m^2$) with different temperatures. It was heated from 5PM to 8AM, and during the night the greenhouse was covered by non-woven fabric thermal curtains along the upper 2m of the greenhouse for temperature maintenance. In order to analyze the heating performance of the GHPS, power consumption and operating time of the GHPS, inlet and outlet water temperature of the condenser, temperatures of each zone of the greenhouse, and ambient temperature were measured. Results: When operating only one heat pump unit, heat generated in the condenser decreased as the experiment progressed and power consumption increased correspondingly. However, the heating coefficient of performance decreased from 3.3 to 2.0 rapidly. Also, when operating two heat pump units, heat generated in the condenser decreased and power consumption increased. Heating coefficient of performance decreased from 4.5 to 3.7 rapidly. When the set temperature of the greenhouse was $13.7{\sim}20.1^{\circ}C$ and minimum ambient temperature was $-20.8{\sim}4.8^{\circ}C$, the annually accumulated heat and power consumption were 520,623 kW, 142,304 kW, respectively. Conclusion: When the set temperature of the greenhouse was $13.7{\sim}20.1^{\circ}C$ and the minimum ambient temperature was $20.8{\sim}4.8^{\circ}C$, the annually accumulated heat and power consumption were 520,623 kW, 142,304 kW, respectively. When operating only one heat pump unit, the heating COP was 2.0~3.3, and when operating 2 heat pump units, it was 3.7~4.5. If several heat pumps are installed in one GHPS, it is suggested that all heat pumps be operated except in special cases. Because the scale of the water pumps are set to the scale of when all heat pump units are operating, if even one unit is not operating, the power consumption will increase. That becomes the cause of COP decrease.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.61-69
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• 1983

A system dynamic model was developed to predict food grain production under the dynamic consideration of the production circumstance and inputs such as farm population, investment on agriculture, arable land, extensive technology and weather. By using the model, the variation of the food grain production from 1978 to 2008 was examined. The results of the model output says it is desirable that the persistent and long-term program should be studied to get necessary food grain production under the variational inputs and circumstances.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.55-55
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• 1976

An experimental work was conducted to develop an optimum operating system of various hay drying systems ; sun-drying with long hay, sun-drying after chopping, sun-drying after crushing, heated air drying after chopping using batch-type dryer and heated air drying after crushing using tunnel-type dryer. Seombody having 60 cm long and initial moisture content of approximately 79 % in wet basis was used for the experiment. The criteria selected for determining the optimum operating condition were the drying performance rate, the production cost and quality of dried matter of each drying systems. The result of this study are summarized as follows : 1. Drying characteristics of leaves of long stem hay, chopped seombody and crushed one were obtained by maintaining the oven temperature at 70 degrees centigrade. The required drying times for various samples to approximately 15% moisture content in wet basis were about 50 min .for leaves ; 160 min. for crushed hay ; 250 min. for chopped hay ; 340min. for ling hay and more than 360 min .for stems. The drying time of crushed hay was required about 50 % of that for the uncrushed long hay. Such a significant difference of drying of time between the leaf and long stem may indicate that an effective drying of seombody may not be achieved unless any kind of special process treatment for the whole hay is undertaken. 2. In each individual drying system, the following conclusions were drawn: a. After 8 days sun-drying on concrete floor under good days with average tempe?rature at $256{\circ}C$ and relative humidity at 55% at 2 P.M., the moisture content of long hay was still above 25 5'~ and the leaf loss during drying caused by wind and rough handling was more than 50 ~G. b. It was possible to dry the chopped seombody by sun-drying down to about 10 % moisture content within 5 days, however, a stock of heat and discolouration phenomena were observed during the drying, which may be due to the increased deposit-density by chopping, resulting in lowering the quality of the dried product. c. Sun-drying for the crushed material by hay-conditioner was required about 4 days to reduce the moisture content to about 10 %, keeping the quality of dried product at good grade. o. The optimum deposit-depth of the chopped seombody in the batch-type dryer used was about 28cm with about 42kg/hr of drying performance rate. However, it was necessary to overturn the materials between the upper and lower layers in order to obtain a good quality of dried product. d. The drying performance rate by the tunnel-type drier was highest among those of drying systems tested, giving the rate of approximately 400kg/day. 3. On reviewing the individual drying system for seombody, it was possible to draw conclusion that the best system was tunnel drying with the crushed seombody as far as the performance rate was concerned. However, the methods gives the highest operational cost. The system for the lowest operational cost with good quality of dried product was the sun-drying with the crushed material. Accordingly, it may be recommended that the system of sun-drying for the crushed seombody may be the most feasible system presently applicable to farm-level operation.