Design and evaluation of a rice seedling launching system based on the physical and mechanical properties of rice seedlings and analysis of the forces acting on seedlings for throwing-type rice transplanting

Solki Cheshmeh Soltani, Fatemeh; Alimardani, Reza; Jafari, Ali

doi:10.22059/ijbse.2026.418947.665657

Design and evaluation of a rice seedling launching system based on the physical and mechanical properties of rice seedlings and analysis of the forces acting on seedlings for throwing-type rice transplanting

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Fatemeh Solki Cheshmeh Soltani ¹

Reza Alimardani ²

Ali Jafari ²

¹ Department of Agricultural Machinery Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran.

² Department of Agricultural Machinery Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran

10.22059/ijbse.2026.418947.665657

Abstract

Rice is one of the most important food crops in the world, and developing new methods for planting is particular importance in conditions where conventional machinery is limited. The aim of this research was to design and evaluate a new rice Transplate launch system. In this regard, first, the physical and mechanical properties of the rice transplate, hen, the launch system was designed and manufactured and the process of the seedling capsule impacting the soil was investigated. Also, in order to evaluate the mechanical behavior of the seedling finite element method analysis was performed under loading conditions resulting from launch tests. The results showed that the average wet mass, average diameter and root length of the transplate were 0.554 g, 1.657 mm and 307.18 mm, respectively. Also, the average Young's modulus of the rice seedlings obtained from the uniaxial tensile test was 29.36 MPa. The results of the throwing tests showed that increasing the throwing height from 1 to 2 m increased the penetration depth of the capsule containing the seedlings from 0.06 to 0.10 m and the maximum calculated impact force was 2.457 N. The finite element simulation results showed that under critical loading conditions, the maximum von Mises equivalent stress,in the seedlings waas 0.000173 MPa, Low values of stress and deformation showed that the designed system is capable of performing the process of launching and deploying seedlings without causing significant mechanical damage.

Keywords

rice transplat, physical and mechanical properties, Young'

s modulus, transplate launching system

Subjects