Design and development of tractor drawn seed cum pressurized aqueous fertilizer drill

The present study was undertaken to investigate design values of pressurized pumping system. To begin with the estimated range of moisture requirement required to attain sowing moisture for different soil type was determined. For loamy sand soil an application range of aqueous fertilizer was 0.15-092 liter per meter for raising moisture from 3 to 7% to germination moisture of 14 per cent. Whereas, for sandy loam soil the same was 0.17-1.34 liter per meter for raising moisture from 4 to 12 % to germination moisture of 20 per cent and for loam soil it was 0.23-1.59 liter per meter for raising moisture from 8 to 16 % to germination moisture of 27 per cent. Based on estimation, an aqueous fertilizer requirement of 5500 to 8000 l/ha was required in experimental field with clay loam soil. To optimize different pump variables for required discharge rate five levels of pump rotational speeds i.e. 1998, 1665, 1332, 999 and 666 rpm, four levels of line pressure staring from fully opened valve i.e. gauge pressure of 0 kg/cm2, by reducing valve opening area up to 2, 4 and 6 kg/cm2 and three levels of nozzle sizes i.e. 8, 10 and 12 mm were taken. Pump rotational speed influenced discharge directly in a linear manner at fully opened valve for all pump speeds for each nozzle. As line pressure increased the discharge rate decreased. A reduction to the flow of 2 to 6 times was obtained by creating the line pressure through control valve at rotational speed of 1998 to 666 rpm. The selected design values for pressurized pumping system were pump rotational speed from 666, 999, 1332 and 1665 rpm, line pressure of 0, 2 or 4 kg/cm2 and nozzle size of 10 mm.