Journal of Agricultural Engineering最新文献

{"title":"Automatic travelling of agricultural support robot for a fruit farm -Verification of effectiveness of RTK-GNSS and developed simulator for specification design","authors":"Ren Hiraoka, Yuya Aoyagi, Kazuki Kobayashi","doi":"10.4081/jae.2023.1355","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4081/jae.2023.1355","url":null,"abstract":"Labour shortages and fatal accidents in agricultural work have recently emerged as critical problems in Japan, necessitating productivity enhancement, workload reduction, and safety assurance. Therefore, in Japan and countries with similar agricultural environments, the use of small and inexpensive agricultural robots that can be used in mountain farms and orchards is desirable. In this study, a dynamic positioning test was performed in orchards in a mountainous region to verify the positioning accuracy and stability of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and real time kinematic (RTK)-GNSS. In addition, a simulator for an agricultural robot that could consider the environmental information of orchards was developed, and driving tests were conducted using the GNSS data acquired in the simulation. The error of the GNSS module was set to be higher than that for the measured value, and robot travelling in the orchard was simulated. The results of GNSS positioning tests in an orchard near a mountainous area indicate that in the specific environmental conditions, the RTK-GNSS and stand-alone (SA)-GNSS can attain a positioning accuracy with an order of tens of centimetres and few metres, respectively. Moreover, the simulation results based on the GNSS positioning results indicate that a vehicle implementing RTK-GNSS and a simple obstacle detection sensor can travel autonomously in a farmyard without colliding with the tree rows. In contrast, a vehicle implementing SA-GNSS and a simple obstacle detection sensor cannot drive autonomously in an orchard and must realise self-positioning using a more accurate sensor. Therefore, the proposed approach of realising simulations of autonomous agricultural robots based on GNSS data from a real orchard can facilitate the evaluation of practical agricultural robots and confirming safety traveling root. The results demonstrate the possibility of development of small agricultural robot for orchards. We conducted the GNSS positioning test in an orchard at an altitude of approximately 830 m, and a similar performance can be expected under similar agricultural situations because the error of the GNSS module was set to be higher than the measured value in driving simulation test.","PeriodicalId":48507,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural Engineering","volume":"23 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81329265","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reuse of livestock waste for the reinforcement of rammed-earth materials: investigation on mechanical performances","authors":"M. Parlato, C. Rivera-Gómez, S. Porto","doi":"10.4081/jae.2023.1434","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4081/jae.2023.1434","url":null,"abstract":"Agricultural wastes as additive within raw earth materials could both improve mechanical and physical properties of new sustainable construction materials and enhance waste management in a circular economy perspective. This study intends to fill the lack of knowledge considering the mechanical effects of animal fibers on rammed earth materials. The effects of a livestock waste, i.e., sheep wool fiber (SWF), as reinforcing element in building components produced by using raw earth and lime-free mortars, have been evaluated. Linear shrinkage, flexural strength, and compressive strength were evaluated on samples incorporating SWF, with the aim of assessing the effects of this waste addition on the mechanical performances of a new bio-composite material. The samples were made by varying the content of wool (0.25 % or 0.50%weight) and the length of the fibers (from 10 mm to 40 mm). The best result of the flexural strength was 1.06 MPa, exhibited by samples made with the longest and highest percentage of fibers, 40 mm and 0.50%, respectively. The addition of SWF to adobe bricks changed their failure mode, from fragile to ductile, reduced dry density and shrinkage rate.","PeriodicalId":48507,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural Engineering","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85239763","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Hydrologic performance assessment of nature-based solutions: a case study in North-eastern Italy","authors":"Tommaso Baggio, Francesco Bettella, L. Bortolini, V. D’Agostino","doi":"10.4081/jae.2023.1485","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4081/jae.2023.1485","url":null,"abstract":"The consequences of climate change are exacerbated by land-use changes, which influence the rainfall-runoff relations and consequently the flood risk. Effectively, urbanization is steadily contributing to the increase of impervious areas and reducing the time-to-peak. The effect of Nature Based Solutions (NBSs) on the mitigation of these phenomena is recognized. Nevertheless, these kinds of sustainable infrastructures are still barely known and scarcely adopted in many parts of the European Countries. The LIFE BEWARE project aims to enhance hydraulic safety and spread good practices in rainwater management by promoting and facilitating the adoption of NBSs in the Altovicentino area (Northern Vicenza Province, Veneto Region, Italy). To support the dissemination activities, some full-scale NBSs have been created within the municipality areas involved in the project. The hydrological impact of the structures is continuously monitored thanks to the installation of devices measuring inlet and outlet runoff, and rainfall pattern. This study aims to analyse the monitoring data of the first two years of the built NBSs. Results show that the structures managed almost all the water runoff through processes of infiltration and retention, providing additional insights into understanding the real behaviour of NBSs exposed to the specific environmental conditions of a very rainy foothills area. In particular, mean rain intensity and rainfall duration are the variables that mostly affected the structure performance, especially for events prolonged over time (2-3 days) with mean rainfall intensity in the range of 2-3 mm/h. Therefore, the overall outcomes from this analysis resulted as being useful to improve the design of NBSs and further promote their installation in urban areas.","PeriodicalId":48507,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural Engineering","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91083539","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effect of Machine and Crop Parameters on Paddy (Oryza sativa) Threshing using Axial Flow Thresher","authors":"","doi":"10.52151/jae2022593.1778","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.52151/jae2022593.1778","url":null,"abstract":"India is one of the largest rice producers in the world, contributing 20% to global rice production. In Central India, Madhya Pradesh recently started rice production after the failure of soybean. Paddy harvesting in Madhya Pradesh is mostly done by manual labour, and threshing is done by electric or tractor-operated threshers. To minimize threshing losses, proper combination operational parameter conditions for thresher are to be known. In this study, performance evaluation of tractor-operated axial flow paddy thresher was conducted at JNKVV Research farm Jabalpur at 3 feeding rates (1750, 1800, 1850 kg.h-1), 3 cylinder speeds (456, 536, 610 rev.min-1), and 3 paddy moisture contents [12, 14, 16% (d. b.)] for 3 different varieties (Kranti, JR-81, PS-5) of paddy. The thresher gave best results at 610 rev.min-1 cylinder speed, 1,850 kg.h-1 feed rate, and 12% grain moisture. Kranti variety had 98.54% threshing efficiency, 97.93% cleaning efficiency, and 0.13% broken grain. With JR-81 variety, the thresher could operate with 98.40% optimum threshing efficiency, 97.39% cleaning efficiency, and 0.67% broken grain. Similarly, the threshing performance of PS-5 variety was 98.0% threshing efficiency, 98.61% cleaning efficiency, and 0.4% broken grain percentage. Significant effect of different experimented varieties was not observed in threshing and cleaning efficiencies. However, lowest broken grain percentage in Kranti variety might be due to minimum grain length as compared to the other two varieties.","PeriodicalId":48507,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural Engineering","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85391557","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Runoff Prediction of Bharathapuzha River Basin using Artificial Neural Network and SWAT Model","authors":"","doi":"10.52151/jae2022594.1791","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.52151/jae2022594.1791","url":null,"abstract":"An attempt was made to model the non-linear system of rainfall-runoff process from Bharathapuzha River basin using an information processing paradigm, Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The results were compared with the outputs of the semi-distributed, physically-based SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) model. The ANN modelling was done using back propagation learning algorithm, tan sigmoid transfer function, and model input strategy having rainfall and other climatic variables as input by assigning number of layers as 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 40. Different models were evaluated with respect to coefficient of correlation (r), coefficient of determination (R2 ), and root mean square error (RMSE). Among the ANN models, ANN-BP-A-5 (six input variables, 5 hidden layers) performed best, followed by ANN-BP-A40 (six input variables, 40 hidden layers). Comparison of ANN predicted runoff of the best models (ANN-BP-A-5 and ANNBP-A40) with the SWAT predicted runoff revealed that the simulated runoff using SWAT was more correlated to observed runoff than ANN predicted runoff. The ANN models underestimated the flow during the rainy season, and gave an overestimation during the summer season. However, the R2 values of 0.666 and 0.649 obtained for ANN-BP-A-5 and ANN-BP-A40, respectively, indicated that the performances of ANN models were satisfactory and ANN model can also be used for runoff prediction in data scarce areas.","PeriodicalId":48507,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural Engineering","volume":"57 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82280978","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evaluating the Performance of Calibrated Temperature-based Equations as Compared to Standard FAO-56 Penman Monteith Equation in Humid Climatic Condition of Dehradun (India)","authors":"","doi":"10.52151/jae2022594.1790","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.52151/jae2022594.1790","url":null,"abstract":"The present study was undertaken to calibrate, validate, and evaluate the performance of temperature-based evapotranspiration equations in comparison to the standard FAO-56 Penman Monteith (FAO-56 PM) model in humid climatic condition of Dehradun district of Uttarakhand using 31-years (1989-2019) daily meteorological dataset. The quality control of dataset was ensured by omitting days with missing data and outliers. The performance of 12 calibrated temperature-based ETo equations namely, Allen (1993) [AL93], Baier and Robertson (1965) [BR65], Bogawski and Bednorz (2014) [BB14], Droogers and Allen (2002) [DA02], Dorji et al. (2016) [DO16], Hargreaves (1994) [HA94], Heydari and Heydari (2014) [HH14], Kharrufa (1985) [KA85], Ravazzani et al. (2012) [RA12], Samani (2004) [SA04], Schendel (1967) [SC67], and Trajkovic (2007) [TR07] were evaluated in comparison to standard FAO-56 PM model in terms of daily ETo estimates. The analysis showed that calibrated temperature-based equations performed well with higher value of agreement index (0.85-0.98) and reduced errors. The values of Root mean square error (RMSE), Mean bias error (MBE), Maximum absolute error (MAXE), Percent error of estimate (PE), and Standard error of estimate (SEE) for calibrated equations ranged from 0.29 to 1.15 mm.day-1, (-)0.39 to 0.53 mm.day-1, 0.64 to 3.95 mm.day-1, 4.71 to 19.11%, and 0.17 to 1.00 mm.day-1, respectively; whereas for original equations they varied in the range from 0.47 to 3.64 mm.day-1, (-)0.32 to 2.92 mm.day-1, 0.95 to 10.65 mm.day-1, 11.74 to 106.15%, and 0.18 to 1.72 mm.day-1, respectively, indicating improved performance of calibrated equations. The ranking of calibrated ETo equations on the basis of Global Performance Indicator (GPI) values confirmed that calibrated Dorji et al. (2016) equation produced best result, while Samani (2004) equation with its lowest value performed poorly. Based on GPI values, calibrated equations can be ranked (best to worst performing) as DO16> AL93> TR07> RA12> DA02> HA94> SC67> KH85> BR65> HH14>BB14> SA04. Thus, calibrated Dorji et al. (2016) equation can be used as substitute for FAO-56 PM model in the absence of large number of meteorological parameters for accurate estimation of ETo values in the study area.","PeriodicalId":48507,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural Engineering","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74708754","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Development of a Sensor System for Detection of Missing Seeds in a Tractor-operated Groundnut Planter","authors":"M. Pati","doi":"10.52151/jae2022593.1777","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.52151/jae2022593.1777","url":null,"abstract":"To minimize the missing seeds in groundnut planting, an Infra Red (IR) technology based sensor system was developed for a tractor drawn 9- row groundnut planter. This system could detect the number of groundnut seeds falling through a seed tube and provides visual and audible indications of missing drop(s). Laboratory evaluation of the planter with sensor system indicated that the variations of actual number of seeds dropped and display reading varied from 4.97% to 6.72% when operating speed varied from 2.5 km.h-1 to 3.5 km.h-1. The seed rates were 118.53 kg.ha-1 at 2.5 km.h-1, 100.10 kg.ha-1 at 3.0 km.h-1 and 93.20 kg.ha-1 at 3.5 km.h-1 operating speed. Under field condition, the planter without sensor system had lowest (22.60%) missing seeds at speed of 2.5 km.h-1, and highest (32.85%) missing seeds at higher speed of 3.5 km.h-1; while the planter with sensor system had 5.92% - 10.84% missing seeds with forward speed varying from 2.5 km.h-1 to 3.5 km.h1 . The missing index of seed thus, reduced by 16-22% with incorporation of the sensor device with the planter. With increase in forward speed, seed rate decreased irrespective of use of the sensor with the planter due to higher planter vibration as well as the seeds dropping back from the metering cells in the seed box before being discharged in seed tube. However, using the sensor system, no significant effect of speed on seed rate was observed.","PeriodicalId":48507,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural Engineering","volume":"185 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75400842","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comprehensive Characterization of Cocos nucifera Palm Residues for Biochar Production","authors":"","doi":"10.52151/jae2022594.1788","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.52151/jae2022594.1788","url":null,"abstract":"The feasibility of using Cocos nucifera palm residues such as shell, husk, leaflets, fronds, and rachis for biochar production was investigated. Biomass characterization such as proximate, elemental, biochemical, higher heating value, and thermogravimetry were analysed. The results showed that fixed carbon of coconut palm residues was in the range of 10.48% to 17.47%, with the shell being the highest. Carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen content of the residues ranged from 39.46% to 48.60%, 4.23% to 6.00%, 0.42% to 1.66%, and 44.98% to 55.28%, respectively. Among the residues, lignin content was found to be maximum in the shell biomass (29.31%) and minimum in the rachis (21.89%). Thermogravimetric analysis of coconut palm residues revealed the presence of three stages of thermal degradation with overall weight loss ranging between 68.56% and 77.08 per cent. Higher fixed carbon and lignin content unveiled the potential of coconut palm residues for biochar synthesis. Slow pyrolysis of coconut palm residues resulted in biochar generation with fixed carbon content ranging between 65.40% and 78.21%, and proved its suitability for applications such as solid fuel, adsorbent, catalyst, and precursor for biomaterials production such as activated carbon and carbon molecular sieves.","PeriodicalId":48507,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural Engineering","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89857171","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Refinement of Wheat Straw Harvester for Paddy Straw Harvesting and Bruising","authors":"","doi":"10.52151/jae2022593.1776","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.52151/jae2022593.1776","url":null,"abstract":"Refinement of a wheat straw harvester was done for chopping of paddy straw. Blower of the wheat straw harvester was replaced by two bruising cylinders and a concave. Pointed knife guards of the cutter bar were replaced with V-shaped serrated blades fixed below the cutting blades. The machine was operated in paddy fields having straw load 6.25 t.ha-1 and 8.58 t.ha-1 at forward speed of 0.55, 0.70, and 0.97 m.s-1. Straw bruising cylinder speeds of 640, 725, and 810 rpm were used. The percentage of chopped straw of size up to 125 mm, weighted mean size of chopped straw, mulch thickness, and coefficient of variation of uniformity of straw spread were in the range of 71.28-86.41%, 57.6-81.2 mm, 53.9-60.0 mm, and 20.54-22.17%, respectively, under all treatment combinations. The fuel consumption and field capacity of the machine were in the range of 8.88-12.08 l.ha-1 and 0.27-0.55 ha.h-1, respectively.","PeriodicalId":48507,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural Engineering","volume":"42 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74601141","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Solar Photovoltaic Pump-operated Micro-irrigation Systems: A Comprehensive Review","authors":"","doi":"10.52151/jae2022594.1789","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.52151/jae2022594.1789","url":null,"abstract":"Increasing energy scarcity has compelled the agricultural and energy engineers to look for alternative renewable energy sources to sustain irrigated agriculture. Among the renewable energy options available for irrigation, adoption of solar photovoltaic (PV) energy is growing at faster rate all around the world. Also, the micro-irrigation (MI) system is widely accepted as the most efficient irrigation method. Integrated application of solar PV and MI system is one of the most energy- and water-efficient solution to agriculture, and is gaining popularity among the farmers. However, the intermittent supply of power from the solar PV system hinders the performance of directly connected MI system. It demands additional costly energy and water storage options for hassle-free operation. Systematic integration of PV and MI system is required to avoid storage options and to meet energy and water demand of crops for universal agricultural applications. This manuscript is an attempt to present a comprehensive review of literature reported in this area in the past two decades.","PeriodicalId":48507,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Agricultural Engineering","volume":"69 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86083442","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}