Develop the Precise Vacuum Seeder for Nursery Plug Tray Sowing by Using the Vacuum Cleaner

The manual sowing of vegetable seeds is the general practice of vegetable nurseries in Thailand. It is the slow and labour-intensive process that causes the low production capacity. This study aims to design and develop a vegetable seed sowing machine for 200-cell plug tray plantings to substitute h...

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Main Authors: Yenphayab Charatchai, Saijai Jedsada, Hongwiangjan Jeerayut
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: EDP Sciences 2025-01-01
Series:BIO Web of Conferences
Online Access:https://www.bio-conferences.org/articles/bioconf/pdf/2025/01/bioconf_icbae2025_03003.pdf
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author Yenphayab Charatchai
Saijai Jedsada
Hongwiangjan Jeerayut
author_facet Yenphayab Charatchai
Saijai Jedsada
Hongwiangjan Jeerayut
author_sort Yenphayab Charatchai
collection DOAJ
description The manual sowing of vegetable seeds is the general practice of vegetable nurseries in Thailand. It is the slow and labour-intensive process that causes the low production capacity. This study aims to design and develop a vegetable seed sowing machine for 200-cell plug tray plantings to substitute human labor. The prototype utilizes the vacuum cleaner to develop the suction head pressure that simultaneously offers the 200 seeds-planting per tray. The vacuum seeder mechanism is composed of the suction head unit and seeds tray unit. The prototype is operated and controlled by the automation system for continuous planting. Cantonese vegetable seed is selected to evaluate the planting precision of the prototype. Based on the design parameters obtained in laboratory experiments, the optimal condition for planting the Cantonese vegetable seeds in the 200-cell plug tray is verified by adjusting two parameters the suction pressures and the nozzle implement type. On the other hand, the planting precision is indicated by the single seed sowing index. The results showed that the average quality of feed index is 70.53% when utilizing the large nozzle implement type with a vacuum pressure of 1019 Pa. The average working cycle time per tray and the machine capacity per hour are 51.0 seconds and 70 trays, respectively. Moreover, the prototype machine costs about 43% of the average cost of the existing commercial seeders in terms of cost-effectiveness.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2117-4458
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publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher EDP Sciences
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series BIO Web of Conferences
spelling doaj-art-899dd5bbbcb442bbb66df969dd68224c2025-01-16T11:20:04ZengEDP SciencesBIO Web of Conferences2117-44582025-01-011500300310.1051/bioconf/202515003003bioconf_icbae2025_03003Develop the Precise Vacuum Seeder for Nursery Plug Tray Sowing by Using the Vacuum CleanerYenphayab Charatchai0Saijai Jedsada1Hongwiangjan Jeerayut2Department of Agricultural Engineering, School of Engineering, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology LadkrabangDepartment of Agricultural Engineering, School of Engineering, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology LadkrabangDepartment of Agricultural Engineering, School of Engineering, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology LadkrabangThe manual sowing of vegetable seeds is the general practice of vegetable nurseries in Thailand. It is the slow and labour-intensive process that causes the low production capacity. This study aims to design and develop a vegetable seed sowing machine for 200-cell plug tray plantings to substitute human labor. The prototype utilizes the vacuum cleaner to develop the suction head pressure that simultaneously offers the 200 seeds-planting per tray. The vacuum seeder mechanism is composed of the suction head unit and seeds tray unit. The prototype is operated and controlled by the automation system for continuous planting. Cantonese vegetable seed is selected to evaluate the planting precision of the prototype. Based on the design parameters obtained in laboratory experiments, the optimal condition for planting the Cantonese vegetable seeds in the 200-cell plug tray is verified by adjusting two parameters the suction pressures and the nozzle implement type. On the other hand, the planting precision is indicated by the single seed sowing index. The results showed that the average quality of feed index is 70.53% when utilizing the large nozzle implement type with a vacuum pressure of 1019 Pa. The average working cycle time per tray and the machine capacity per hour are 51.0 seconds and 70 trays, respectively. Moreover, the prototype machine costs about 43% of the average cost of the existing commercial seeders in terms of cost-effectiveness.https://www.bio-conferences.org/articles/bioconf/pdf/2025/01/bioconf_icbae2025_03003.pdf
spellingShingle Yenphayab Charatchai
Saijai Jedsada
Hongwiangjan Jeerayut
Develop the Precise Vacuum Seeder for Nursery Plug Tray Sowing by Using the Vacuum Cleaner
BIO Web of Conferences
title Develop the Precise Vacuum Seeder for Nursery Plug Tray Sowing by Using the Vacuum Cleaner
title_full Develop the Precise Vacuum Seeder for Nursery Plug Tray Sowing by Using the Vacuum Cleaner
title_fullStr Develop the Precise Vacuum Seeder for Nursery Plug Tray Sowing by Using the Vacuum Cleaner
title_full_unstemmed Develop the Precise Vacuum Seeder for Nursery Plug Tray Sowing by Using the Vacuum Cleaner
title_short Develop the Precise Vacuum Seeder for Nursery Plug Tray Sowing by Using the Vacuum Cleaner
title_sort develop the precise vacuum seeder for nursery plug tray sowing by using the vacuum cleaner
url https://www.bio-conferences.org/articles/bioconf/pdf/2025/01/bioconf_icbae2025_03003.pdf
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AT saijaijedsada developtheprecisevacuumseederfornurseryplugtraysowingbyusingthevacuumcleaner
AT hongwiangjanjeerayut developtheprecisevacuumseederfornurseryplugtraysowingbyusingthevacuumcleaner