New Design of the Dispensing System for a Pneumatic Sowing Machine

Abstract

The design analysis of pneumatic sowing machines operated under excessive air flow pressure has revealed several weak points in their work: using metal pushers fixed in the bottom part of the sowing disk for removing excessive seeds involves the risk of damaging these parts; there is a 5% possibility that the directed air flow for removing excessive seeds from cone cells (except for the flow stipulated according to the instructions) will blow out all the seeds, including caryopses from these cells. In this case, the sown row will have gaps, which reduces the fertility level. This study is about resolving the above-indicated issues by means of newly developed design parts that will exclude any possibility of damaging seeds and seeding gaps’ formation when using pneumatic sowing machines under excessive air flow pressure. The developed design also makes it possible to modify sowing patterns without replacing sowing disks. The sufficient condition for improving the process is to fit cone cells with plugs from an elastic material (PVC) that contain spring-driven claws with a removal ring.