Original papersDevelopment of an infrared seed-sensing system to estimate flow rates based on physical properties of seeds
Introduction
The planting operation is one of the major challenges in crop production. Timely and uniform sowing increases crop yield, cropping reliability and cropping frequency (Murray et al., 2006). Nowadays, seed drills are widely used in the planting operation, and having a clue about their performance is much desired. Malfunction of planters such as blockage of the delivery tube, emptying seed hopper and damaging transmission system should be distinguished during the planting operation. Most of these conditions can be investigated by seed flow measuring (Al-Mallahi and Kataoka, 2016).
In seed planters, the delivery tube is the last part to deposit the seeds into the seed furrow, making it an appropriate and accessible position for performance monitoring. So, the seed flow sensors, as the essential part of seed drills monitors, can be installed on the delivery tube and detect the flow. Various seed sensors have been developed in either contact or non-contact methods. In the contact method, usually, the impact of seeds is detected. For example, using a piezo-electric crystal, or condenser microphone, the impact of falling seeds on steel plate converts to the voltage signal for estimating the seed flow (Goulden and Mason, 1958, Karimi et al., 2015). In order to produce output signals in response to striking seeds, Knepler (1979) developed an apparatus with an electromagnetic transducer having an arm extends into the seed flow path to be struck randomly by the seeds.
There are many types of research on non-contact methods. Fathauer (1975) designed an ultrasonic seed sensor consists of a pair of spaced apart ultrasonic transducer elements: one acting as a transmitter and the other acting as a receiver. This sensing device was used for determining the passage of high velocity and relatively small articles. Amburn (1980) designed a microwave seed sensing apparatus placed in the path of seeds discharged from the hopper. The sensor could detect the seeds and produce an observable indication of the presence of seeds in the path. Bachman (1988) used plate-like electrodes exposed adjacent to the path of seed travel. These electrodes and seed path area as a dielectric portion were generally defining a capacitor. The material passing changes the dielectric constant, thereby changing the capacitance. In the same method, Zhou et al., 2017, Zhou et al., 2012 used capacitance-based approach for measuring of fertilizer mass and corn mass flow rate, respectively. In both, the capacitance of the system varied with passing material rate. Many researchers have developed optical techniques to detect seed flow. Generally, an optical seed sensor utilizes light emitting and light-receiving elements mounted in a delivery tube. When a seed stream passes, the output voltage of the light-receiving sensor changes proportionally in response to changing in the intensity of light at the receiving element. Bell (1979) used light emitting diodes and a relatively rapidly-responding light receiving device mounted in front of each other. On the other hand, the infrared technique was widely employed to reduce the ambient light nuisance. Friend (1987) used an array of infrared LEDs generating a uniform diffuse beam of radiation and a planar photo-diode which extends across the opposite side of them. In a similar method, Kocher et al., 1998, Lan et al., 1999 developed a seed sensor based on near-infrared (NIR) to measure sugar beet seed spacing. Yin et al. (2018) used a photoelectric sensor that composed of several pairs of infrared LEDs and detectors in a circular arrangement for detection of corn seed flow rate. The appropriate number of cells was determined based on corn seed size and its motion attitude in seed tube was considered. Lu et al. (2017) have used the same method to measure seed flow rate in the wheat seeding. In this approach, there is some dead zone where seed flow cannot be detected. Grift and Crespi (2008) used converging and diverging lenses to assure the detection of each falling particle in the tube. They estimated the flow rate of free falling granular particles. In the reflection method, (Raheman and Kumar, 2015) utilized IR LED to provide radiation and TSOP (thin small outline package) to receive the reflected radiations from passing seeds. Also, the digital fibre sensor was used for detecting the flow of seeds (Al-Mallahi and Kataoka, 2016). In another method, Karayel et al. (2006) developed a high speed camera system to measure the spacing and velocity of fall of wheat seeds.
In line with previous achievements, Karimi et al. (2017) developed and evaluated light dependent resistors (LDR), infrared (IR), and laser diodes (LD) sensing units. Comparing the ability of sensing units in confronting with the same seed flow, it was found out that the IR detection technique is a proper non-contact sensing technique for seed flow detection. Among the sensing systems, due to its simple implementation, low cost and accuracy, the optical sensors have been widely taken into consideration (Friend, 1987, Karimi et al., 2017, Kocher et al., 1998, Kumar and Raheman, 2018, Lan et al., 1999, Okopnik and Falate, 2014, Raheman and Kumar, 2015). Each earlier reported seed sensing systems have been developed to detect specific kind of seeds. Obviously, with regard to the physical properties of each kind, new design and settlement might be required. While seed drills are regularly used to sow different kinds of seeds with a wide range of physical properties. So, developing a model to estimate the seed flow rate based on the sensor output voltage and some physical properties of seeds is very much desired. Such a sensing system can be used for different kinds of seeds and reduce expenses plus time and energy need for calibration.
This research aims to develop and improve chosen the IR sensor from previous work (Karimi et al., 2017) such that flowing of seeds with different physical properties can be detected through a delivery tube. Therefore, a test apparatus was built to investigate a developed IR seed sensor responses in confronting with varied mass flow rates and seed kinds. Finally, a model was proposed to estimate the mass flow of various seeds based on receiving voltages from the seed sensor, thousand seed weight and equivalent diameter of seeds. The developed sensing system could be used for seed flow detection in the delivery tube and also for the assessment of seed metering unit performance in the laboratory. Most recently, Karimi et al. (2019) used the developed sensor for assessing a seed drill monitoring system under field operating conditions.
Section snippets
Materials and methods
A measuring system using the infrared elements was developed for estimating the seed flow rate in a delivery tube in seed drills. For evaluation and calibration of the system, a test apparatus was built, too. Finally, seed flow rate model was developed as a function of seed properties such as thousand seed weight and equivalent diameter of seeds.
Data analysis
The correlation between sensor output (voltage) and seeds flow rates, for one replication (as an example) is shown in Fig. 8. There is a linear and positive correlation between voltage received from the seed sensor (V) and seed flow rate (Q). It means that the more the flow rate, the higher the voltage measured. The coefficient of determination was 0.90, 0.97 and 0.92 for chickpea, wheat, and alfalfa, respectively. These R2 values revealed that the linear fitting for wheat is stronger than
Conclusion
For detecting the flowing seeds through a delivery tube and estimating the flow rate, IR seed sensor was developed. The relation was extracted between the receiving voltage from the seed sensor and seed mass flow. Then, the model was developed for estimation of seed mass flow based on physical properties of seeds and the corresponding voltage changes. IR sensing system was developed with just providing thousand seed weight and equivalent diameter for each kind of seed. In comparison with other
Acknowledgments
This work is part of a research project entitled “Development an infrared Sensing System for Seeds Flow Rate Estimation Based on Seed Physical Properties” which is supported by Boukan Saze-kesht Agricultural Implement Manufacturing Company. The authors would like to say thanks to Masoud Siadat the chairman of the factory for his kind support and contribution. The authors also appreciate the comments of the anonymous reviewers who provided useful suggestions for improving this paper.
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