Manufacture And Performance Evaluation Of A Simple Machine For Planting Sugar Beet

The main experiments were carried out at Kafr El-Hamam Village Sharkia Governorate during season 2011-2012 with the purpose of manufacturing and evaluating the performance of a simple machine to be suitable for sugar beet planting.The main objectives of this study are to:1. Manufacture of a simple machine for sugar beet planting under conditions of small Egyptian farms.2. Optimize some different operating parameters affecting the performance of the manufactured machine.3. Evaluate the manufactured machine from the economic point of view.To fulfill these objectives, the experiments of this research were divided into two separate parts. The first part was conducted in the laboratory to study the effect of some operating parameters (metering device speed and metering device cell shape) on the performance of the manufactured machine metering device. While the second part was carried out in the field to optimize some operating parameters affecting the performance of the manufactured machine.The experimental results revealed that seed scattering, sugar yield, energy requirements and operational cost were in the optimum region during planting sugar beet crop under the following recommended conditions:• The use of the manufactured machine for planting both monogerm and multigerm sugar beet seeds.• Adjustment of metering device speed index (ratio of metering device speed to machine forward speed) to be 3:1.• Operate the manufactured sugar beet planting machine at a forward speed of about 3.8 km/h.• The use of the half circular cell shape for planting monogerm sugar beet seeds.• The use of the trapezoidal cell shape for planting multigerm sugar beet seeds.