Modeling and Design of a Disk-Type Furrow Opener’s Coulter Its Mechanical Analysis and Study for No-Till Machinery (Combination and Bertini)

Abstract

No-till practices play an important role in decreasing production costs, increasing soil organic matter content, improving soil structure and removing unwanted environmental impacts. However, due to a lack of access to proper machinery for direct seeding in unplowed lands, such practices have failed to produce successful results since they are incapable of providing sufficient contact between soil and seeds. Introducing a machine that can plant seeds and fertilizer at two different depths in hard (unplowed) soils covered with last season's crop residues can be the first step towards pilot no-till initiatives. This step can finally lead to the promotion of this practice in the potential areas. In this study, different components of a disk furrow opener were optimally designed in Solid Works modelling software. ANSYS was used to analyze this furrow opener and its three main related components. Finally, the coulter's stress was determined using the von Mises criterion. The result showed that the minimum coulter stress was 1985.5Pa throughout the plane and its maximum belonged to the holes inside the hub with 1.0819x107Pa. The safety factor of the initial coulter was 17.85, while that of the optimally designed coulter was 25.