BY IMPROVING BREEDING SEEDER SOWING DEVICE SMALL SEEDED CROPS

One of the most important stages of growing small-seeded crops in breeding is the sowing of seeds. Sowing should provide the most favorable conditions for seed germination and further plant development, which increases field germination and yield of breeding crops. One of such conditions is the uniformity of seed distribution in a row, which should be for breeding crops - 99.9%. According to the results of the analysis of the constructions of the existing sowing machines, their classification on the basis of the principle of operation of the machines and design features of the sowing mechanisms has been supplemented. As a result of patent information analysis, it was found that electromechanical sowing machines are the most effective during selective sowing of small-seeded crops, as they provide a sufficiently high seeding accuracy and have promising opportunities to change varieties directly during sowing in different areas. The analysis of the work of the sowing system "Maple" allowed to form the main ways of its improvement: it is necessary to improve the working body of the sowing machine to ensure the accuracy of sowing of small-seeded crops at the level of 99.9%; for sowing in areas of pre-seed production it is necessary to provide automatic loading of seeds of different varieties into the sowing machine; needs to improve the sowing system in areas of pre-seed production, taking into account GPS-tracking; the elements of the seeding system must be block for easy replacement in case of failure. To solve the set problems, the constructive-technological scheme of the sowing apparatus of the selection seeder of small-seeded crops is substantiated, which allows to fully automate the sowing process on the plots of pre-seed production almost without the breeder's participation with high seeding accuracy.

Automating Accuracy Evaluation of 5-Axis Machine Tools

A wireless non-contact 3D measuring head is used to determine the accuracy of 5-axis machine tools. The measuring head is inserted in the spindle by the tool exchanger automating the measurement routine used. For checking the linear machine axes, a cross shaped artefact containing 13 precision balls is introduced, named Position Inspector, enabling the determination of positioning and straightness errors of two linear axes in one setup. The squareness error between both axes is also determined in this setup. This artefact can be mounted on a pallet system for automatic loading and is measured in a bi-directional run. This artefact can be measured in different orientations (i.e., horizontal, inclined, vertical) and is pre-calibrated with a CMM. The measurement sequence using this artefact is executed in eight minutes and its design and support system is addressed in this paper. The location errors and orientation errors of the axis average line (or pivot line) of both rotary axes are determined with the Rotary Inspector using the same measuring head with a single precision ball. For this, kinematic tests are used from ISO10791-6, e.g., the BK1 test, BK2 test which apply for trunnion or swivel table machines. Derived parameters can be used for machine correction resulting in a significantly improved machine accuracy. An example is given where this correction is performed automatically by implementing this measurement system in the machine’s controller. Finally the machine tool is tested using the BK4 test. For this test all 5-axes are moved simultaneously and the measured displacements between the machine’s spindle and table in X-, Y-, and Z-directions are compared to tolerance levels. This final test reveals the machine’s overall accuracy and dynamic behavior.