Delft University of Technology
Faculty Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering Transport Technology
A.D. Bruin Het ontwikkelen van een methode om kunstmest plaatsspecifiek te verdelen. Masters thesis, Report 99.3.TT.5228, Transport Engineering and Logistics.
New environmental rules and scale enlargement in the agriculture call for a new generation of farming machines. It is already possible to make an exact measurement on the condition of the land. But now there is the need for a machine that can spread the fertiliser even more precisely (location-specific). In this report a theoretical answer to this need is given. It consists of two parts: first a literature study is made and then one of the concepts, which are developed in the first part, is studied more closely.
In the first part an overview of present machines is given and new demands and criteria are listed. The method of a "Morphologic résumé" is used to develop some possible solutions. This gives us the vertical spreading disc (A), the horizontal spreading disc (B), the pneumatic spreader (C) and the particle accelerator (D). According to the criteria the horizontal spreader is chosen as the best option. In the second part first a model of the trajectory of the fertiliser is derived. With this model it is possible to make an exact calculation of the trajectory, which is quite new. Verification shows that the model is suitable. The most important part of this report is the development of a new shape of the blades and the input gap. With these new concepts it is possible to give the output-flow of the grain the desired direction. Another advantage of these new shapes is that with the same rotational speed and diameter of the spreading disc the fertiliser can reach higher speeds and the grain damage is less than in the case of straight blades. When these new shaped spreading discs are stacked the fertiliser can be distributed location-specific.
Reports on Transport Engineering and Logistics (in Dutch)
