Modified Masters Thesis Final

OUTLINES
Introduction
Problem Statement
Objective
 General objective
 Specific objectives
Scope
Literature review
Research gap
Methodology
Design and analysis
Result and discussions
Conclusion
Recommendation and future work
04/24/2024 MEBRAHTOM.G 2
Introduction
 Agriculture
 Backbone of the Ethiopian economy (S. Atsbaha and B. Tessema)
 The sector determines the growth of all the other sectors and the whole national
economy ,(EDA).
 Agricultural Mechanization
 use of any mechanical aid in agricultural, (Firew Kelamu, 2015)
 Farming is mainly dependent on oxen-draft and human muscle operating using
traditional farm implements, (MoANR).
 Transplanting
 Is one part of agricultural mechanization
 the process of re-cultivating a seedling plant by the process of shifting the seedlings
from one specified nursery area to another prepared farm area
04/24/2024 3
MEBRAHTOM.G
Problem Statement
 To enhance onion production, onion seedling  The majority automatic and semi-automatic
transplanting is becoming more suitable than transplanters produced before have intricate
direct planting of the onion seed design and make use of sophisticated
 The traditional way of onion seedlings technology
transplanting has a disadvantage in  How ever, The local farmer does not prefer
 Energy these kinds of machines because they are
 Labor Force expensive, and require expertise for operation
 Time and Money and maintenance
 Ergonomics  Uniform depth and space between successive
seedlings is not maintained when transplanting
seedlings manually
 To address the aforementioned issues, this
study us set out to design, model, simulate and
optimize a small-scale onion seedling trans-
planting machine for small-scale rural
agriculture
6
04/24/2024 Figure 3; tradition transplanting plantation process in central Tigray MEBRAHTOM.G
Objective of the Thesis Research
 General objective
 The general objective of this research is to design, model,

simulate and optimize a small-scale manually operated onion
seedling transplanting machine for rural agriculture.
 Specific objectives
 to design the transplanting machine
 to model and simulate the planting mechanism
 To optimize the mass of the transplanting machine
Scope of the thesis
 This Thesis had three main works. It started with data collection,
reviewing available technologies, and design and development to
design the machine. Then, it deals with modeling, simulating the
transplanting mechanism. Finally, the research was ended with
mass determination of the transplanting machine to optimize its
weight.
Literature Review
rs
nte
spla
tr a n
n
nio
of o
n
atio
ific
ss
Cla
Figure 4 classification of onion seedling transplanting mechanism (Rasool et al.,
Cont.….
Autor Year Finding Result Gap
design and development of Field capacity0.078 ha/h row-to-row space

mechanical transplanter for onion Field effiency 76.53% depth of placement
P.A. 201
seedlings Labor power 115.38man.h/h Angle of planting
Pradeeprao 6
Average speed 0.64km/hr (seedling
plant-to-plant space48cm deposition)
Design and Development of a Field capacity0.071ha/h Angle of planting
Tractor Drawn Automatic Onion Field efficiency71.25%. (seedling
L.Kumawat 202 seedling Transplanter Average speed 3.0km/hr. deposition)
et al 0 row-to-row spacing8.12cm
plant-to-plant spacin20.3cm
depth of placement2.99cm
Development of an affordable Field capacity0.0208ha/hr Field efficiency
semi-automatic transplanter for Average speed 1.5km/hr. Angle of planting
201
P.S. More timely sowing of onion seedlings row-to-row spacing8.89cm (seedling
6
plant-to-plant spacin17.78cm deposition)
depth of placementcm
Autor
Cont.…. Year Finding Result Gap
Gear-Driven Rotary Planting planting capacity120 s.ling/m row-to-row space
Mechanism for a Six-Row Self- Average speed 1030mm/s Plant to plant space
M.N. Reza
2021 Propelled Onion Transplanter Length of hopper190mm depth of placement
et al. Angle of planting
(seedling deposition)
Theoretical analysis of velocity, Seedling space 20m/s planting capacity
K. Rasool et acceleration and torque Toruque 3.8 Nm Angle of planting
al. 2019 calculation of a five-bar onion (seedling deposition)
transplanting mechanism
design and fabrication of Seedling space 20cm Field efficiency
manually operated onion Filed efficiency 0% Angle of planting
T. Admas 2020 seedling transplanter machine (seedling deposition)
Design, Development and Field capacity0.02ha/hr Raw to raw space

Performance Evaluation of an Filed efficiency 66.29% Planting capacity
Animal Drawn Automatic Average speed 1.8km/hr. Angle of planting
A.D. Abera 2020 Onion Transplanting Machine plant-to-plant spacin17m (seedling deposition)
depth of placement-4cm
04/24/2024
Mass 117.53kg
MEBRAHTOM.G 11
Research Gap
The literatures listed in the previous table focuses on onion seedling
transplanters and their finding has tried to address the transplanting parameters
like space between seedlings, row to row spacing, average speed of transplanter
in terms of the field capacity and efficiency. In addition some of the has tried to
solve the transplanting mechanism to address the depth of planting, seedling
planting capacity, speed of planting mechanism. How ever, the seedling
deposition angle in to the soil has not investigated and the weight of the
transplanter that can be affordable for small agriculture has not well
considered, hence, this study likely to fill the gaps faced above.
Methodology
The methodology was on the basis of

documenting Traditional system
theoretical and simulation approaches.
Based on the assessment of the existing Data collection
situation and literatures, design analysis
is undertaken and simulation is done for Design and development
the transplanting mechanism of the
machine Design analysis and modification
The virtual prototype is modeled using

Prototype modeling and simulation
solid works to undertake simulation
Figure.4
Customer need and concept development
Step-1; Need identification of Step-2; Establishing the relative Step-3; Product
end users importance of needs specification
 Customer statements are  Interpreted needs  Needs and Metrics

collected using interview  Relative Importance  Relative Importance value
 Interpreted the need for customer
statements was done
Step-6; Concept testing Step-4; Concept

Step-5; Concept selection
development
 Virtual model of the prototype  Concept scoring matrix  Problem decomposition into sub-
 Mass property of the machine  Design a decision matrix based problems
 Working trajectory of the on the screening criteria; the  Functional diagram of the
transplanting mechanism weight, w, of the selection transplanting machine
criteria, R- Rating and score, s  Refinement into the sub-functions
MEBRAHTOM.G
04/24/2024 Figure.9 General procedure followed in developing the transplanting machine 14
Need identification of end users
Table.1 Interpreted need for customer statements
Customer: Sample 10 farmers Interviewers: Mebrahtom Gebremichal and Tetemke Gebreziabher
Address: Hahayle Date: 08/05/2020
Willing to interview? Yes. Currently uses: Traditional farming method
Type of user: Farmer
Question/Prompt Customer Statement Interpreted Need

Typical uses I need to save time and energy consumed to Quick and simple machines are required to plant
plant seedlings
I need to increase my productivity seedling transplanting and row planting method is
better than the currently used broadcasting method
I need to reduce any extra work like weed According to some agricultural research, seedling
removal after planting transplanting minimizes weed growing
I need to be safe from damaging plants post- The trans-planter machine has spacing between rows
planting activities like weed removing or and plants used as side walk
spraying anti-weed chemicals
I need to change the traditional method of The multi-row seedling transplanting requires only two
planting to row planting and transplanting, laborers to operate
but I don’t have enough labor in my family
to use the seedling transplanting method 15
04/24/2024
MEBRAHTOM.G
cont.…..
Table.2 Customer needs with their relative importance
S/N Interpreted needs Relative S/N Interpreted needs Relative
Importance Importance
1. seedling transplanting is faster than the 5 11 It is cheap (Small scale farmers can afford the 5
traditional method machine)
2. It has appropriate space and depth mechanisms 5 12 It can be controlled, maintained, and installed 5
between plants easily
3 It saves seeds 3 13 It can maintain and repair locally 5
4 It is a multi-row planting 5 14 It doesn’t have any expensive components like 5

engine power
5 It increases productivity 5 15 It does not complicate features/parts 4
6 The transplanting machine transplants safely 5 16 It can plant other plants like tomato and pepper 4
without damaging the seedling etc.…
7 It is not labor intensive (ergonomic during 5 17 It is operated by manpower 5
operation)
18 It can operate at any speed, therefore the spacing 5
8 It has no environmental and sound 4
between plants and rows will not be changed
pollution/emission
19 It saves time 5
9 It is easy to operate (not required a skilled 5
operator) 20 It is robust and reliable 5
10 It is04/24/2024
light in weight 5 21 The seedling feeds by gravity
MEBRAHTOM.G 16 3
 Product Specification
 the precise description of what the product has to do.

 A simple needs vs metric matrix (relation between needs and
metrics) is prepared as shown a Table 3
Table.3 Needs and Metrics with their relative importance and units
Metric Needs No Metric Imp. Unit
S/N Value
1 1,4 Transplanting capacity 5 ha/hr.

2 11,14,15 Product cost 5 ETB
3 7,9,10,17 Energy consumption 5 Watt
4 6,7,8,9,10 Ergonomic 5 Subj.
5 2,5 Depth of planting 5 mm
6 10,11,12,13 Overall size (L*W*H) 4 mm*mm*mm
7 10,11 Overall weight 5 Kg
3
5
4
6
1.
2.
S/N
Cont.…
Needs
04/24/2024
Metrics
It saves seed
It increases productivity
It is a multi-row planting
transplants safely without

The transplanting machine
than the traditional method
mechanisms between plants

seedling transplanting is faster
It has appropriate space and depth

1
●
●
Transplanting capacity
2
Product cost
3
Energy consumption
4
Ergonomic
5
●
●
Overall size
6
Depth of planting
Table .4 the needs-metrics matrix
7
● MEBRAHTOM.G
Overall weight
8
●
●
●
Number of row of planting arms

9
Ease assemble and

disassemble
10
Shape/profile of the planting arm/figure

11
Size of the ground wheel

12
● ●
●
Spacing between plants
Adjustable the space between the

13
planting rows
14
●
●
Productivity
15
●
●
Size of the driving and driven

pulley
●
16
Eccentric radius of the crank

17
18
Try inclination angle

●
18
Speed of the operator

19
Inclination of the handling

 Concept generation
04/24/2024 Figure 9 Function diagram of onion seedling transplanting MEBRAHTOM.G 19

 Concept selection
 based on different screening criteria’s best one will be selected through a design
decision matrix Concept E is selected
Table 6 Concept scoring matrix
Section W Concept-A Concept-B Concept-C Concept-D Concept-E Concept-F
criteria’s R S R S R S R S R S R S
Maintainability 0.05 10 0.5 10 0.5 10 0.5 8 0.4 10 0.5 10 0.5

Manufacturability 0.15 10 1.5 4 0.6 10 1.2 6 0.9 10 1.5 8 1.2
Operation 0.1 6 0.6 10 1 10 1 8 0.8 10 1 10 1
Efficiency 0.15 6 0.9 8 1.2 10 1.5 6 0.9 8 1.2 4 0.6
Weight 0.15 10 1.5 6 0.9 4 0.9 4 0.6 8 1.2 8 1.2
Cost 0.15 10 1.5 8 1.2 8 1.2 2 0.3 10 1.5 8 1.2
Durability 0.1 8 0.8 8 0.8 10 1 4 0.4 8 0.8 10 1
Easy to use 0.1 10 1 10 1 10 1 8 0.8 10 1 10 0.8
Design complexity 0.1 8 0.8 10 1 8 0.8 10 1 8 0.8 10 1
Total score = Σ(S) 1.00 9.10 8.20 9.30 6.10 9.50 7.50
(A) (B)
(C)
(E) (F)
(D)
Design and analysis
Materials and tools
Material selection
 mild steel ASTM-36 is used for design and simulation.
 corrosion resistant
 least cost and availability in the market.
Design Tools
 Solidworks is used as a basic cad tool to undertake modeling and simulation.
Design analysis
Existing Situation Analysis
Traditional system
The traditional system of onion plantation uses

traditional tools such as plough (maresha),
hand hoe, spade and seed container . Some of
the tools are shown in Figure 1(a).
The most common, plough which is
traditionally drawn by working animals such as
oxen and horses, is used to loosen or turn the
soil in to most suitable property in preparation
for planting.
Figure.5(b) length of smallest seedling (c) length of largest seedling
Cont.…
The following trans-planting parameters is collected directly from

the agricultural farm land as shown as shown in the previous
figure 5.
The maximum height of onion seedling is 25mm.
The minimum height of onion seedling 19 mm.
 Average gap between two planted seedlings is 12.5cm
Cont.…
Assumption for design modifications
Inconsideration of the need and engineering requirements, design
modifications is done based on the following considerations
Onion has brittle properties.
 The finger type mechanism for picking the seedling damages the
onion stem, so plug type mechanism is used .
 transplanting more than one seedling at a time affects the onion
production.
seedling deposition depth and angle in to the soil
MEBRAHTOM.G 25
04/24/2024
Cont.…
• Design specification
Average Waking speed of man= 2.5 km/hour or 0.69 m/s
Average height of the machine = 0.6m
Raw distance =30cm
The maximum height of onion seedling is 25mm.
The minimum height of onion seedling 19 mm.
 Average gap between two planted seedlings is 12.5cm
Cont.…
Power of work done by the operator
• Pal et al. power is given by;
• HP = ; Where t =time in minutes
• Now on average a human can work on the field 2-3 hour’s continuous
• using average walking speed of human 0.69 m/s according to (Pal et al.,2018)
• Now we know developed power by a chain drive as
MEBRAHTOM.G 27
04/24/2024
Cont.…
 The transplanting capacity of the machine is 2-rows (the capacity of the
selected machine)
 Its overall width of the machine is 500mm or 0.5m.
 The theoretical or design field capacity of the machine is given by;
Field capacity, ha/hr
= = 0.124 ha/hr
Calculation of the angular speed of the ground wheel
The circumference of the ground wheel is 942.5mm or 300mm diameter.
Therefore, the average angular speed of the ground wheel is given by;
ωav = = =4.6rad/s or 44rpm
Cont.….
Seedling trans-planting capacity
• Since the maximum spacing between the successive plants per row was considered to
be 12.5cm, therefore
• Number of seedling/rev = (C/spacing between plants)n
C = 942.5mm
n= 2, is number of rows
• Number of seedling/rev = (942.5mm/125mm)*2 = 16 seedling/rev
• Number of seedling per one minute = 44rpm*8 seedling/rev
= 352 seedling/row*rev
Cont.…
Geometric and Motion Analysis
Angular speed of the driving and driven sprocket
The driving sprocket is connected with the ground wheel by common shaft, thus;
 N1 (speed of driving sprocket) = 44rpm
The velocity ratio (V.R.) of the driving and driven sprockets is equivalent to
number of plants (8) per one revolution of the driving sprocket.
the angular speed of the driven sprocket is;

Cont.…
Kinematics of the transplanting mechanism
 According to Grashof’s Law of four bar

mechanism, the sum of the shortest and
longest link lengths should not be greater
than the sum of the remaining links to
indicate that link 2 (crank) rotates and link
4 (follower) oscillates. This type of four-
bar mechanism is called a crank rocker.
Figure.6 Kinematics of the transplanting mechanism
R2 + R1 ≤ R4 + R3
Chain design
C=300mm
L=1054.1
p=9.525
sprocket design
D1=291.1mm
D2=37
N1=44rpm
N2=352rpm Figure.7 power transmission drives
Modeled Machine for simulation results
Cont.…. Result and Discussion
Simulation of onion seedling transplanting mechanism
Trial combinations of the trajectory of the planting mechanism
Trial L1 L2 L3
no mm mm mm deg deg deg
1 60 190 340 60 60 30
2 80 210 360 60 60 30
3 100 230 380 60 60 30
4 120 250 400 60 60 30
5 140 270 420 60 60 30
6 160 290 440 60 60 30
7 180 310 460 60 60 30
Cont.…
 The trajectory of the planting mechanism
Trajectory of the transplanting mechanism

500
399.9989218
400
360.909051
movement the hopper (mm)
300
200 178.1333274
100
0
1 5 9 13 17 21 25 29 33 37 41 45 49 53 57 61 65 69 73 77 81 85 89 93 97 101105109113117121125
-100
-154.398265
-200
Intervals
X(mm) Y(mm) Z(mm)
Figure.10 The model and trajectory of the planting mechanism

Cont.….
When the transplanter started to move and transplant the seedling, the
trajectory showed a maximum and minimum vertical movement of 178.1mm
and 154.4mm along the y axis respectively
Implies a resultant of 23.2mm of vertical movement of the hopper was

performed to complete one seedling deposition into the soil successfully
Shows a complete onion seedling deposition into the soil is done when the
transplanter is moved average of 38cm horizontally
Implies a complete onion seedling deposition into soil requires an approximate

value of 23mm and 40cm vertical and horizontal movement of the hopper
cont.….
The Linear speed of the transplanting hopper
vertical and horizontal speed of the transplanting hopper

600
400 353.1409056
200
-200
-400
-548.5632623
-600
Time (sec) Vx (mm/sec) Vy (mm/sec)
cont.….
367 90
137 40
-93 -11
Vy (mm/sec)
Vx (mm/sec)
-323 -61
-552 -112
0.00 1.50 3.00 4.50 6.00 7.50 9.00 10.50 12.00 13.50 15.00
Time (sec)
cont.…
The Optimum angle of seedling deposition in to soil
26
Average Angular Displacement (deg)
14
-11
-23
0.00 1.50 3.00 4.50 6.00 7.50 9.00 10.50 12.00 13.50 15.00
Time (sec)
Mass Optimization of the transplanting machine
Conclusion
The machine has the capacity to transplant 352 plants/row/min at a constant speed
of 0.3m/s.
the working speed of the transplanter considering the successful deposition of onion
seedlings to the soil helps to minimize the damage and falling of the seedlings.
Because, the following parameters confirms successful transplanting
 An average seedling deposition of 11.87mm
 An average velocity of the seedling deposition (89.9mm/s)
 Angle of deposition of the seedling into the soil (23 degrees)
The machine is suitable for operation since it has an overall size of 0.45, 0.758,
0.953m width, height and length respectively.
The machine is easy for transport since it has an optimal weight of 16.5 kg.
Recommendation and future works
Recommendation
 The
farmers must use the transplanting machine
 at a constant speed of 0.3m/s so that a successful seedling deposition is
achieved.
Futureworks
Manufacturing, performance analysis of the transplanting machine
Design and integration of an automatic feeding mechanism
 Design modification of the transplanting mechanism to increase the
transplantation rate
Design modification for medium and large scale agriculture
and, redesign of the machine to transplant multiple root vegetable crops
Thank you!
Questions ?

Modified Masters Thesis Final

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Modified Masters Thesis Final

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

OUTLINES

 Backbone of the Ethiopian economy (S. Atsbaha and B. Tessema)

 The general objective of this research is to design, model,

 to design the transplanting machine

 to model and simulate the planting mechanism

 To optimize the mass of the transplanting machine

design and development of Field capacity0.078 ha/h row-to-row space

Design, Development and Field capacity0.02ha/hr Raw to raw space

The methodology was on the basis of

The virtual prototype is modeled using

 Customer statements are  Interpreted needs  Needs and Metrics

Step-6; Concept testing Step-4; Concept

Question/Prompt Customer Statement Interpreted Need

4 It is a multi-row planting 5 14 It doesn’t have any expensive components like 5

 the precise description of what the product has to do.

1 1,4 Transplanting capacity 5 ha/hr.

transplants safely without

mechanisms between plants

It has appropriate space and depth

Number of row of planting arms

Ease assemble and

Shape/profile of the planting arm/figure

Size of the ground wheel

Spacing between plants

Adjustable the space between the

Size of the driving and driven

Eccentric radius of the crank

Try inclination angle

Speed of the operator

Inclination of the handling

04/24/2024 Figure 9 Function diagram of onion seedling transplanting MEBRAHTOM.G 19

Maintainability 0.05 10 0.5 10 0.5 10 0.5 8 0.4 10 0.5 10 0.5

The traditional system of onion plantation uses

The following trans-planting parameters is collected directly from

• Number of seedling/rev = (C/spacing between plants)n

• Number of seedling/rev = (942.5mm/125mm)*2 = 16 seedling/rev

• Number of seedling per one minute = 44rpm*8 seedling/rev

Angular speed of the driving and driven sprocket

 N1 (speed of driving sprocket) = 44rpm

the angular speed of the driven sprocket is;

 According to Grashof’s Law of four bar

3 100 230 380 60 60 30

4 120 250 400 60 60 30

5 140 270 420 60 60 30

6 160 290 440 60 60 30

7 180 310 460 60 60 30

 The trajectory of the planting mechanism

Trajectory of the transplanting mechanism

X(mm) Y(mm) Z(mm)

Figure.10 The model and trajectory of the planting mechanism

Implies a resultant of 23.2mm of vertical movement of the hopper was

Implies a complete onion seedling deposition into soil requires an approximate

vertical and horizontal speed of the transplanting hopper

You might also like