Journal of Researches in Mechanics of Agricultural Machinery

Journal of Researches in Mechanics of Agricultural Machinery

Design, Manufacture, and Evaluation of a Motorized Rotary-Weeder Machine

Document Type : Research Paper

Author
Sajad Kiani
Biosystems Engineering Department, Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University, Sari, Iran
10.22034/jrmam.2024.14728.701
Abstract
One of the most important agricultural operations in wood fields, row crop fields, gardens, and traditional greenhouses is breaking up, churning, aerating the topsoil, and removing weeds. In this research, a light-weight (65 kg) plow-harrow machine with a 5-hp engine and a walk-behind cultivator unit was designed, manufactured, and evaluated. A single-speed planetary gearbox was used to transmit the engine power through a power transmission shaft and a 90-degree final reducer to the blades installed in front of the machine. Using a planetary gearbox, in addition to providing the required torque for tillage operations, caused a significant weight reduction in the device compared to conventional rototillers. The working width of the cultivator unit can be changed from 15 to 60 cm with 6 C-shaped blade flanges. The tests were carried out with 3 revolutions of the tiller unit (200, 250, and 300 rpm) and in vegetation conditions as a completely random basic design experiment. The results of the field evaluation show that the machine has a higher operating speed and more satisfactory performance compared to conventional agricultural tillers for performing shallow plowing, breaking up, churning, aerating the topsoil, and removing weeds. Because the tiller unit is mounted in the front, it has better maneuverability especially when it works between the rows. However the increase in the blade's axis rotation increases the speed of traveling, the results of the statistical analysis show that the increase in the blade's axis rotation causes the particles of tilled soil to become finer. Also, by increasing the rotation of the blade’s axis, the intensity of the device's operation is more suitable in the conditions of maximum vegetation and prevents the locking of the tiller axis.
Keywords
tillage
wood plantations
row crops
weed removal
Subjects
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