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Characterisation of different pneumatic sowing machines
Book Contribution - Book Chapter Conference Contribution
As a consequence of the acute honey bee poisoning events observed in several European
countries during maize drilling, the dust drift topic has received increasingly more attention.
We aimed to quantify the dust drift risk, develop reduction measures and innovate sowing
techniques using an integrated experimental and modelling approach. To validate and finetune
the dust drift CFD-models under development, the designs of three selected sowing
machines and associated tractors were digitised. For the two pneumatic drills, the airflows
around the machines and at the in- and outlet air ducts were measured. Air velocities at
the outlets ranged from only 0.11 m s-1 for the pneumatic bulk drill up to 26.1 m s-1 for
the pneumatic precision drill without deflector. The use of a deflector reduced the exit
velocities to 13.4 m s-1 as well as the air velocities around the machine. Reference tracer
seeds were developed with different qualities regarding dust production in order to measure
the dissipation of dust around static operated drills and in field conditions.
Book: Aspects of Applied Biology
Pages: 77 - 84
Publication year:2014
Accessibility:Closed