Abstract:
Crop production all over the world has been increased dramatically after the
production of synthetic fertilizers. Population of the world has been increasing
exponentially, putting pressure on limited resources. Now a days, the major concern
is the environment. Under and overdose application of fertilizers and pesticides
cause damage not only to the crop but also effects the environment. The spread
ability and uniformity of the spreader pattern has become significant subject in this
age of agricultural engineering.
In the first phase, design and development is completed using solidworks software at
Robot Design and Development Lab, NUST. In the second phase, mathematical
model is developed to predict the behavior of particle ejected from unmanned aerial
fertilizer spreader (UAFS) and a computer program is developed to simulate the
particle trajectory and particle distribution. The unmanned aerial fertilizer spreader
speed, particle size, density and the atmospheric wind are found to have significant
effect on the deposition uniformity and pattern width. The height of unmanned aerial
fertilizer also impacts spreading width.
To analyze the actual deposition pattern,field tests are performed. Field tests are
found to be associated with high degree of uncertainty in term of variable inputs.
Using kinematic equations we have determined the various factors, such as the
optimize length of impeller 155mm, optimize angle is between 25 to 30 degrees,
optimize RPM 425 and optimize height of (UAFS) is 2 m from crop height, physical
parameter such as average fertilizer particle diameter is 2 mm and bulk density is
2000 kg/m3
.
The model is having potential in predicting the trends in change of deposition pattern
shape and size with changes in variables like particle properties, unmanned aerial
fertilizer speed, altitude and wind speed.
