Optimization of Parameters and Operating Modes of Disc Sowing Device According to Seeding Uniformity Criterion

Introduction. When cultivating agricultural crops, it is necessary to take into account the plants’ need for moisture, nutrients, location by area of nutrition, determining illumination, etc. Taking into account the biological characteristics of crops, various methods of sowing are used to create favorable conditions for plant growth and development. An important condition for sowing is the uniform arrangement of seeds along the sulcus, especially in the cultivation of testes of small-seeded cultures. A key role in the uniformity of seeding is provided by the design parameters and kinematic operating conditions of the sowing device. Materials and Methods. To determine the optimal parameters and operating modes of the disk sowing device, methods of factor experiment and multi-criteria optimization were used. Results. Mathematical models of the technological process of sowing seeds were obtained based of experimental studies. Conclusions. To ensure the improvement of the seeding quality of small seeds, the design parameters of the experimental seeder: х4 – is the diameter of the cell; х5 – the number of cells on the disk, will tend to the maximum values. The optimum circumferential speed of the sowing disk should be in the range from 0.127 to 0.192 m/s, and the speed of the machine’s movement is no more than 2 m/s.