ALBERT

Description: Due to the sustainable development of agriculture machines with large working widths of 4–6 m or even 9–12 m are increasingly often used for agrotechnical operations. The sowing machinery whose working widths are much bigger than the width of the seed box is equipped with a pneumatic system for transporting seeds from the seed box to coulters. One of the structural elements that affect the sowing accuracy in such seed drills is the distribution head with a diffuser. This article is about research on the influence of the distribution head deviation from the vertical position and constructional variants of the diffuser (the number of diffusion rings and the configuration of their position in the diffuser pipe, which is the distance between them) on the accuracy of distribution of a stream of rye and oat seeds (a seed-and-air stream), which differ in physical characteristics. The main elements, i.e., the innovative stream distributor in the head and the diffusion rings were made using an original design and the rapid prototyping method. The research proved that a change of 0–10° in the angle of the distribution head deviation from the vertical position significantly affected the sowing quality of oat seeds only. The position (density) of the diffusion rings in the lower section of the diffuser (near the supply elbow) was the most effective for both oat and rye seeds, where the average values of the coefficient of variation were 5.31% and 4.62%, respectively. The research results can be used to redesign the construction of the diffuser of the seed drill distribution head so as to reduce the resistance of transport of the seed-and-air mixture in order to improve seed sowing evenness.

Description: It is important to protect potatoes from insects and diseases at an early stage of their development. Pesticides are necessary to prevent loss caused by Colorado potato beetles feeding on potato leaves. Nowadays, there are attempts to reduce the use of chemical agents to the minimum necessary level. This article describes the construction of a novel valve that applies chemicals in an intermittent stream during potato treatment. Thus, it is possible to reduce the emission of chemicals to the natural environment. The article also describes the research site where the valve was tested, provides the results of laboratory investigations on different types of sprayer nozzles and their validation. Apart from that, the degree of the seed potato surface covering with the dressing was assessed in order to select the right sprayer nozzle and working pressure. The results of field tests of the seed dresser prototype with novel nozzles showed that they effectively dressed seed potatoes while saving 2 L (50%) of the chemical per hectare. Fissure sprayers achieved the highest degree of covering (up to 78%) with the first version of the valve (without auxiliary airflow). When the innovative valve (the second solution with auxiliary airstream) was applied at a distance of 50 mm from the seed potato fall path S, the highest degree of coverage with the dressing substance (up to 88%) was observed for the ejector sprayer. When the distance between the valve and the seed potato fall, path S was increased from 50 to 100 mm, the degree of surface coverage was lower for both of the valves used in the tests.

Description: In this paper, the authors used an acoustic wave acting as a disturbance (acoustic vibration), which travelled in all directions on the whole surface of a dried strawberry fruit in its specified area. The area of space in which the acoustic wave occurs is defined as the acoustic field. When the vibrating surface—for example, the surface of the belt—becomes the source, then one can observe the travelling of surface waves. For any shape of the surface of the dried strawberry fruit, the signal of travelling waves takes the form that is imposed by this irregular surface. The aim of this work was to research the effectiveness of recognizing the two trials in the process of convection drying on the basis of the acoustic signal backed up by neural networks. The input variables determined descriptors such as frequency (Hz) and the level of luminosity (dB). During the research, the degree of crispiness relative to the degree of maturity was compared. The results showed that the optimal neural model in respect of the lowest value of the root mean square turned out to be the Multi-Layer Perceptron network with the technique of dropping single fruits into water (data included in the learning data set Z2). The results confirm that the choice of method can have an influence on the effectives of recognizing dried strawberry fruits, and also this can be a basis for creating an effective and fast analysis tool which is capable of analyzing the degree of ripeness of fruits including their crispness in the industrial process of drying fruits.

Description: The study concentrates on researching possibilities of using computer image analysis and neural modeling in order to assess selected quality discriminants of spray-dried chokeberry powder. The aim of the paper is the quality identification of chokeberry powders on account of their highest dying power, the highest bioactivity, as well as technologically satisfying looseness of the powder. The article presents neural models with vision techniques backed up by devices such as digital cameras, as well as an electron microscope. The reduction in size of input variables with PCA has an influence on improving the processes of learning data sets, thus increasing the effectiveness of identifying chokeberry fruit powders included in digital pictures, which is shown in the results of the conducted research. The effectiveness of image recognition is presented by classifying abilities, as well as low Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), for which the best results are achieved with a typology of network type Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP). The selected networks type MLP are characterized by the highest degree of classification at 0.99 and RMSE at 0.11 at most at the same time.

Description: The protection of potatoes from pests and diseases, especially at an early stage of their development, is an indispensable element of cultivation. Pesticides are most commonly used for protection, but their high doses may adversely affect the natural environment, including soil and water. This study compares the losses of a chemical agent emitted during the dressing of seed potatoes by means of an innovative valve enabling intermittent outflow of the liquid and by means of a standard valve with a continuous outflow. The research proved that the intermittent outflow of the working liquid decreased the amount of the chemical agent emitted into the environment ten times. The article also describes the site at which the innovative valve was tested and compares the results of laboratory tests for three distances of the sprayer from the potato fall path (50, 100, 150 mm) and four different pressures of the working liquid (1–4 kPa). The research showed that the amount of losses, i.e., emissions of the chemical agent into the environment from the innovative valve (intermittent stream of the working liquid) depended on the difference in the air and liquid pressure. The solution is environmentally friendly. The results showed that the distance between the sprayer valve and the seed potato falling path had minimal influence on the amount of the agent left on the surface of seed potatoes when a continuous stream was applied, but it had considerable influence when an intermittent stream was applied. The distance had negative effect on the ratio of retention of the applied liquid at pressures of 100 and 200 kPa, but it had positive effect at pressures of 300 and 400 kPa (at an intermittent flow). When a continuous stream was applied and the distance between the spray valve and the seed potato falling path increased from 100 to 150 mm, it had positive effect on the retention coefficient for all the four pressures tested (100, 200, 300, 400 kPa).

Description: The effectiveness and precision of transporting wood chips on the transport trailer or hopper depends on an inclination angle, a conveyor belt speed, and length. In order to devise a methodology aiding designing and the selection of technical and performance parameters (aiding the settings of conveyor belt sub-assemblies), the authors carried out the simulation tests concerning wood chips transport on the belt conveyor and their outlet. For the purposes of these tests, a simulation model was performed in the Rocky DEM (discrete element method) software in the numerical analysis environment and compared to analytical tests. The tested wood chips were taken from cherry plum branches chipping processes (Prunus cerasifera Ehrh. Beitr. Naturk. 4:17. 1789 (Gartenkalender 4:189-204. 1784)), out of which seven basic fractions were separated, which differed mainly in terms of their diameter from 5 mm to 50 mm and the length of 150 mm. The article presents the results of wood chips ejection distance in the form of the 3D functions of wood chips ejection distance depending on the conveyor belt inclination angle and belt speed. The results are presented for five conveyor belt lengths (1 m, 2 m, 3 m, 4 m, 5 m). The tests also involved the conveyor belt inclination angle in the range from 10° to 50° and the belt velocity in the range from 1 m/s2 to 5 m/s2. The numerical test results demonstrate higher average values of wood chips ejection distance than designated in the analytical model. The average arithmetical difference in the results between the numerical and analytical model is at the level of 13%.

Description: Samples of triticale seeds of various qualities were assessed in the study. The seeds were obtained during experiments, reflecting the actual sowing conditions. The experiments were conducted on an original test facility designed by the authors of this study. The speed of the air (15, 20, 25 m/s) transporting seeds in the pneumatic conduit was adjusted to sowing. The resulting graphic database enabled the distinction of six classes of seeds according to their quality and sowing speed. The database was prepared to build training, validation and test sets. The neural model generation process was based on multi-layer perceptron networks (MLPN) and statistical (machine training). When the MLPN was used to identify contaminants in seeds sown at a speed of 15 m/s, the lowest RMS error of 0.052 was noted, whereas the classification correctness coefficient amounted to 0.99.