Design and experiment of a high-speed row cleaning unit with double air spring active control system

Abstract

The no-till planter needs to be equipped with a row clearer that remove plant residues from the soil surface to provide a clean seedbed for correct seeding. Consistent working depth is the key to ensuring the straw removal performance of the row cleaner. At present, applying a controlled downforce to the row cleaner is an effective method of stabilizing the working depth. However, the traditional active force control system (TACS), which can only control downforce, is ineffective in stabilising the high-speed row cleaner’s working depth as it struggles to meet the high downforce demands of high-speed row cleaner. Therefore, this study designed a high-speed row cleaning unit with double air spring active control system (DSACS). DSACS, which enabled synergistic control of stiffness and active forces, was used to realize the trade-off between stability of the row clearer’s working depth and downforce requirements at high operating speeds. The forces output from DSACS was decided by the variable universe fuzzy control algorithm, and the optimal stiffness of the DSACS at different speeds was obtained by simulation. The effectiveness of the DSACS was analyzed through simulation and field experiments. The simulation results showed that DSACS had more advantages in optimizing the dynamic performance of the row cleaning unit and reducing the active forces demands. Compared to TACS, the root mean square of impact forces decreased by 13.8 %, 7.3 %, and 12.3 %, and the root mean square of active forces decreased by 14.2 %, 9.2 %, and 12.7 % at speeds of 8 km∙h⁻¹, 10 km∙h⁻¹, and 12 km∙h⁻¹, respectively. The field experiments results showed that compared to TACS, the row cleaning unit with DSACS exhibited better straw removal performance at high operating speeds, with the reduction of 26.3 %, 25.0 % and 22.1 % in the coefficient of variation of cleaned strip width and increase of 4.8 %, 3.4 % and 5.4 % in the straw cleaning rate at the speeds of 8 km∙h⁻¹, 10 km∙h⁻¹ and 12 km∙h⁻¹, respectively.