Mark Andrew Cabale, BSME-3A

AUTOMATED SEED SOWING MACHINE

Abstract:

This study aims to provide a solution on today’s agricultural situation, today’s era is
marching towards the rapid growth of all sectors including the agricultural sector. To meet the
future food demands, the farmers have to implement the new techniques which will not affect the
soil texture but will increase the overall crop production. In the farming process, often used
conventional seeding operation takes more time and more labor. The seed feed rate is more but
the time required for the total operation is also more and the total cost is increased due to labor,
hiring of equipment. This machine reduces the efforts and total cost of sowing the seeds and
fertilizer placement. Sowing machine should be suitable to all farms, all types of corps, robust
construction, also it should be reliable, this is basic requirement of sowing machine. Thus we
made sowing machine which is operated manually but reduces the efforts of farmers thus
increasing the efficiency of planting also reduces the problem encountered in manual planting.
For this machine we can plant different types and different sizes of seeds also we can vary the
space between two seeds while planting. This also increased the planting efficiency and accuracy.
We made it from raw materials thus it was so cheap and very usable for small scale farmers. For
effective handling of the machine by any farmer or by any untrained worker we simplified its
design. Also its adjusting and maintenance method also simplified.

Introduction:

In the current generation Philippines do not have sufficient skilled man power especially in
agricultural sector and it affects the growth of this developing country. The main requirement of
Automation is to reduce man power in our country; the buzzword in all industrial firms generally
involves electrical, electronic component as well as mechanical part. Automation saves a lot of
tedious manual work and speeds up the production processes. So it is a time to automate the
sector to overcome this problem. In Philippines there are 40% people dependent on agriculture.
Seed has been an important agricultural commodity since the first crop plant was domesticated by
pre-historic man. In this model seed sowing process is automated to reduce the human effort and
increase the yield. The plantation of seeds is automatically done by using DC motor. Cropping is
important and tedious activity for any farmer, and for large scale this activity is so lengthy also it
needs more workers. Thus agriculture machines were developed to simplify the human efforts. In
manual method of seed planting, we get results such as low seed placement, less spacing
efficiencies and serious back ache for the farmer. This also limited the size of field that can be
planted. Hence for achieving best performance from a seed planter, the above limits should be
optimized. Thus we need to make proper design of the agriculture machine and also selection of
the components is also required on the machine to suit the needs of crops.
Material Needed:

1. Battery Charger: UPG D1724 SEALED LEAD ACID BATTERY CHARGER (6V/12V
SWITCHABLE SINGLE-STAGE WITH ALLIGATOR CLIPS). FOR USE WITH SEALED
LEAD ACID BATTERIES,6V/12V SWITCHABLE SINGE STAGE CHARGER ALLIGATOR
CLIPS, 500 MAH

2. Battery: The D.C. motor is operated on 12V with 100 rpm. The graph shows torque speed
characteristics of D.C. motor to full load. It is obtained by increasing armature voltage from 1V to
12V linearly. Current of DC motor is 100mA. As speed is increases then torque is also
decreasing. A 12v dc battery is being used for our autonomous robot used for driving the dc
motors. 5 volt supply is being used by the controller, LCD and for driving the relays.

3. Chain Drive: In our project there are two chain drives one which used to control the flow rate
of seeds and another which is used to transmit the power from motor to peg wheel. the chain are
made up of no. of rigid links which are hinges together by pin joints in order to provide. The
necessary flexibility for wrapping round the driving & driven wheels. These wheels have
projecting teeth of special profile a fact into the corresponding recess. Links of the chain. The
toothed wheel are known as sprockets wheel. Which transfer the motion.

4. Gears: Gears are used to transmit the power from one shaft to another mechanism. In our
machine we are using 4-5 gears which having bucket teeth. It has no. of teeth on different steps
which is used for control the speed of disc.
5. Wheel: The rim of the wheel is made from a flat metal plate made up of steel. It is bent and
welded to form a circular form diameter. The periphery is fitted with 12 numbers of lugs at equal
spacing. The lugs are of square form of side. It reduces the slippage while moving in the field.
The distance between the holes in the seed metering disc depends upon the diameter of the
ground wheel.

6. Seed storage tank: Storage device is one of the important device of the system. And is
designed according to weight sustained by the robot as well as the required capacity for planting.
This component is stationary. To the bottom of this tank seed sowing disc is arranged. This disc
serves the function of distribution of the seeds, as for each complete rotation of the rotating
wheel, seeds falls from the tank. Also number of seeds falling from tank is varied according to
requirements. This disc evenly opens the way to seed hence planting is done smoothly and
accurately.

7. Hopper: Hopper is made by mild C. R. Sheet which contains Seed. There are two hopper
mounted on frame on each side.The seeds in the seeds storage tank inserts from the hopper. It is
the component from which desired amount of seed can be placed in required field,.

8. Shaft : It is made of C. I. on which disc and four gear sprocket is mounted. It is used to
transfer the power from ground wheel to each disc.

9. DC MOTOR: Stepper DC motor A dc motor is a device that converts direct current (electrical
energy) into mechanical energy. Two dc motors are used for driving the wheels connected to the
robot. L293d is a dc motor driver used for driving dc motors. 200RPM Centre Shaft Economy
Series DC Motor is high quality low cost DC geared motor. It has steel gears and pinions to
ensure longer life and better wear and tear properties. The gears are fixed on hardened steel
spindles polished to a mirror finish. The output shaft rotates in a plastic bushing. The whole
assembly is covered with a plastic ring. Gearbox is sealed and lubricated with lithium grease and
require no maintenance. The motor is screwed to the gear box from inside. Although motor gives
200 RPM at 12V but motor runs smoothly from 4 V to 12V and gives wide range of RPM, and
torque. Tables below gives fairly good idea of the motor’s performance in terms of RPM and no
load current as a function of voltage and stall torque, stall current as a function of voltage.
Procedures:

1. Drilling :
Creates a round hole in a work part
Contrasts with boring which can only enlarge an existing hole
Cutting tool called a drill or drill bit
Customarily performed on a drill press
Counter boring Provides a stepped hole, in which a larger diameter follows a smaller diameter
partially into the hole.

2. Welding: Welding is a fabrication or sculptural process that joins materials,

usually metals or thermoplastics by using high heat to melt the parts together and allowing them
to cool causing fusion. Welding is distinct from lower temperature metal-joining techniques such
as brazing and soldering, which do not melt the base metal. In addition to melting the base metal,
a filler material is typically added to the joint to form a pool of molten material (the  weld pool)
that cools to form a joint that, based on weld configuration (butt, full penetration, fillet, etc.), can
be stronger than the base material (parent metal). Pressure may also be used in conjunction
with heat, or by itself, to produce a weld. Welding also requires a form of shield to protect the
filler metals or melted metals from being contaminated or oxidized.

Arc welding is a welding process that is used to join metal to metal by using electricity to create

enough heat to melt metal, and the melted metals when cool result in a binding of the metals. It is
a type of welding that uses a welding power supply to create an electric arc between a metal stick
("electrode") and the base material to melt the metals at the point-of-contact. Arc welders can use
either direct (DC) or alternating (AC) current, and consumable or non-consumable electrodes.

3. Cutting: Cutter is any tool that is used to remove material from the work piece by means of
shear deformation. Cutting may be accomplished by single-point or multipoint tools. Single-point
tools are used in turning, shaping, planing and similar operations, and remove material by means
of one cuttin edge. Milling and drillingtools are often multipoint tools. Grinding tools are also
multipoint tools. Each grain of abrasive functions as a microscopic single-point cutting edge
(although of high negative rake angle), and shears a tiny chip. Cutting tool materials must
be harder than the material which is to be cut, and the tool must be able to withstand the heat
generated in the metal-cutting process. Also, the tool must have a specific geometry,
with clearance angles designed so that the cutting edge can contact the work piece without the
rest of the tool dragging on the work piece surface. The angle of the cutting face is also
important, as is the flute width, number of flutes or teeth, and margin size. In order to have a
long working life, all of the above must be optimized, plus the speeds and feeds at which the tool
is run.

4. Bending: A bending machine is a forming machine tool. Its purpose is to assemble a bend on a

work piece. A bends is manufactured by using a bending tool during a linear or rotating move.
The detailed classification can be done with help of the kinematics.

5. Counter boring: A counterbore is a cylindrical flat-bottomed hole that enlarges another

coaxial hole, or the tool used to create that feature. A counterbore hole is typically used when a
fastener, such as a socket head cap screw, is required to sit flush with or below the level of a
workpiece's surface. Whereas a counterbore is a flat-bottomed enlargement of a smaller coaxial
hole, a countersink is a conical enlargement of such. A spotface often takes the form of a very
shallow counterbore. As mentioned above, the cutters that produce counterbores are often also
called counterbores; sometimes, to avoid ambiguity, the term counterbore cutter is used instead.

Overall view of Automated Seed Sowing Machine: