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Design and experimental verification of an automatic transplant device for a self-propelled flower transplanter

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Abstract

There are some problems with the manual flower transplant process, especially high labour intensity, low transplant efficiency and high labour costs. In this study, an automatic transplant device was designed for use in a self-propelled flower transplanter to address these problems. The machine integrates a tray conveyor device, mechanical transplant arm, transplant manipulator and hole-digging device. A mechanical model of the "seedling substrate-manipulator needle" interaction was established, and a transplant manipulator with two needles was designed. In addition, it was determined that three factors had a significant impact on the success rate of seedling transplant (Y1), i.e., the water content (X1), seedling height (X2) and penetration angle (X3). According to a single-factor experiment, the data range of these three factors was determined. The ternary quadratic regression orthogonal centre of rotation combination experimental method was used to conduct experiments. The interaction effects of the factors on the success rate index were explored, and a regression model of the influencing factors and evaluation index was constructed. The working parameter combinations were specified to be 25% for X1, 50 mm for X2, and 12° for X3. The results of a verification experiment showed that Y1 was 92.5%, which was slightly different from the predicted value (93.2%). The automatic flower transplant device developed in this study can effectively improve the transplant operation efficiency.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Engineering, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, 110866, China

    Dong Ji, Subo Tian, Huiying Wu, Bo Zhao, Yuanjuan Gong, Jahui Ma, Meng Zhou & Wei Liu

  2. Key Laboratory of Facility Horticulture in Ministry of Education, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, 110866, China

    Subo Tian

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  1. Dong Ji
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  3. Huiying Wu
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Correspondence to Subo Tian.

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Technical Editor: Zilda de Castro Silveira.

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Ji, D., Tian, S., Wu, H. et al. Design and experimental verification of an automatic transplant device for a self-propelled flower transplanter. J Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng. 45, 420 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-023-04256-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-023-04256-0

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