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Form trimming is an important practice in horticulture. Currently, handheld trimming tools are the most commonly used in China, which presents certain disadvantages including high human labor input, low productivity and inconsistent performance. In this work, a wheeled form trimming machine was designed for shrub plants with the aim of reducing labor input, increasing efficiency and improving trimming performance. The machine was mainly composed of three parts: a supporting frame, a rotary base and a knife system. The design and construction of the key components of the machine were introduced. The knife system was a combination of multiple cutter units with reciprocating motions. The number of units and their connecting angles could be adjusted to realize different trimming shapes. The knife system was carried by the rotary base and could realize 360° rotations to cut the plants into a desired form. Experiments were performed to determine the optimal working parameters (cutting frequency of the cutter unit and rotating speed of the rotary base). The similarity between the plant profile after trimming and the profile of the knife system and the consumed time in each operation were chosen as two evaluation indexes. Results showed that when the cutting frequency was 16.7 Hz and the rotating speed of the rotary base was 13.5 r/min, the trimming operation could be completed by two circles, and the time consumption was 8.89 s. Furthermore, to test the adaptability of the machine, five different shrub plants were chosen and trimmed by the machine, and results showed that the overall similarity was above 93%. Therefore, the form trimming machine developed could meet the requirements of shrub trimming in horticulture with desirable precision and adaptability.
Mao Li; Lina Ma; Wangyuan Zong; Chengming Luo; Muchang Huang; Yang Song. Design and Experimental Evaluation of a Form Trimming Machine for Horticultural Plants. Applied Sciences 2021, 11, 2230 .
AMA StyleMao Li, Lina Ma, Wangyuan Zong, Chengming Luo, Muchang Huang, Yang Song. Design and Experimental Evaluation of a Form Trimming Machine for Horticultural Plants. Applied Sciences. 2021; 11 (5):2230.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMao Li; Lina Ma; Wangyuan Zong; Chengming Luo; Muchang Huang; Yang Song. 2021. "Design and Experimental Evaluation of a Form Trimming Machine for Horticultural Plants." Applied Sciences 11, no. 5: 2230.
To improve the overall mechanization level of rapeseed production in China, especially in some hilly regions where ground machinery cannot enter the fields or can only enter with very low economic benefits, a special aerial seeding system for rapeseed based on a miniature air-assisted centralized metering device was designed and tested in this study. Unlike existing commercial aerial seeding systems, the proposed seed meter was a miniaturized version derived from the traditional air-feeding seed meter on ground planters. The new version contained a redesigned seed feeding component to overcome problems of serious air backflow to the seed box and difficult seed feeding after miniaturization. Three groups of experiments were designed and conducted to optimize the parameters of the seed meter and test its performance. Results from the orthogonal experiment showed that the seed feeding component performed best when the seed layer thickness was 45 mm, the rotational speed of the gear disc was 45 r/min, and the airflow pressure was 2450 Pa. Results from the static workbench test showed that the designed seeding system had a maximum average total sowing efficiency of 537.17 g/min, with the maximum values of the stability variation coefficient of total seeding rate (seven ports) and the consistency variation coefficient between each port was 2.37% and 4.89%, respectively. Field tests further proved that the designed aerial seeding system could work stably, uniformly, and efficiently, so that the agronomic requirements of rape crop planting could be well met.
Xiaomao Huang; Shun Zhang; Chengming Luo; Wencheng Li; Yitao Liao. Design and Experimentation of an Aerial Seeding System for Rapeseed Based on an Air-Assisted Centralized Metering Device and a Multi-Rotor Crop Protection UAV. Applied Sciences 2020, 10, 8854 .
AMA StyleXiaomao Huang, Shun Zhang, Chengming Luo, Wencheng Li, Yitao Liao. Design and Experimentation of an Aerial Seeding System for Rapeseed Based on an Air-Assisted Centralized Metering Device and a Multi-Rotor Crop Protection UAV. Applied Sciences. 2020; 10 (24):8854.
Chicago/Turabian StyleXiaomao Huang; Shun Zhang; Chengming Luo; Wencheng Li; Yitao Liao. 2020. "Design and Experimentation of an Aerial Seeding System for Rapeseed Based on an Air-Assisted Centralized Metering Device and a Multi-Rotor Crop Protection UAV." Applied Sciences 10, no. 24: 8854.
An automatic guidance and control system for the stationary operating mode of an agricultural Wide-Span Implement Carrier (WSIC) was developed and tested on a robotic experimental platform. Control algorithms for the parallel point-to-point tracking problem (forward point tracking and periodic operation process) were designed. Two robots were instrumented with a dual-rover Real-Time Kinematic Global Positioning System, inertial measurement units, XBee-PRO wireless communication modules, and control processors. The experimental platform executes the control sequence in a master-slave cooperative manner. Results of the single point tracking experiments show that the designed velocity and steering angle control laws can effectively guide the robots from a start point to a target. The average and root-mean-square of the offset errors were less than 0.04 m for both the 2-m and 3-m implement width experiments. The lateral and orientation errors were less than 0.16 m and 11° respectively. The sequential point-to-point tracking experiments confirmed the overall effectiveness of the point tracking control and the master-slave cooperative control. The motions of the master and slave robots were in good synchronization, which can permit high efficiency during autonomous WSIC operations.
Chengming Luo; Ahmad Mohsenimanesh; Claude Laguë; Chengming Luo. Parallel point-to-point tracking for agricultural Wide-Span Implement Carrier (WSIC). Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 2018, 153, 302 -312.
AMA StyleChengming Luo, Ahmad Mohsenimanesh, Claude Laguë, Chengming Luo. Parallel point-to-point tracking for agricultural Wide-Span Implement Carrier (WSIC). Computers and Electronics in Agriculture. 2018; 153 ():302-312.
Chicago/Turabian StyleChengming Luo; Ahmad Mohsenimanesh; Claude Laguë; Chengming Luo. 2018. "Parallel point-to-point tracking for agricultural Wide-Span Implement Carrier (WSIC)." Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 153, no. : 302-312.
The mobile operating mode of agricultural Wide-Span Implement Carriers (WSICs) requires accurate synchronization of the forward motions of the two supporting tractors. The guidance task for WSIC operations is currently performed by human operators, which is labor-intensive and can be inaccurate. To replace the traditional human steering and control process, an automatic guidance system adapted to the mobile mode of the WSIC was designed and tested. A master-slave cooperative control method was applied, and the steering angle control law for both the master and slave vehicles and the velocity control law for the slave vehicle were derived. A scaled-down robotic platform was developed by integrating two heavy-duty mobile robots, a dual-rover real-time kinematic GPS (RTK-GPS), two inertial measurement units (IMUs), two XBee-PRO wireless communication modules, and two groups of control processors. Validation experiments were performed using the robotic platform on a flat and firm surface. Results of the single-robot path-following experiment verified the effectiveness of the steering angle control law. Results of the two synchronous tracking experiments, one with a constant reference velocity of 0.3 m s-1 and one with a varying reference velocity of 0.2 to 0.6 m s-1, showed that the two robots could perform their individual path-following tasks accurately while keeping their relative offset to less than 0.1 m. In the experiment with a constant reference velocity, the average, root mean square (RMS), maximum lead, and maximum lag of the offset errors were 0.01, 0.03, 0.05, and 0.06 m, respectively. Slightly larger average, RMS, and maximum lead offset errors were observed in the experiment with a varying reference velocity, which were 0.02, 0.04, and 0.09 m, respectively. These experimental results confirmed that the designed control laws for the synchronous tracking of the WSIC vehicles were effective and the developed automatic guidance system was reliable and applicable. Keywords: Automatic guidance, Master-slave control, Synchronous tracking, Wide-Span Implement Carrier (WSIC).
Chengming Luo; Ahmad Mohsenimanesh; Claude Laguë. Synchronous Tracking Control for Agricultural Wide-Span Implement Carrier (WSIC). Transactions of the ASABE 2018, 61, 873 -883.
AMA StyleChengming Luo, Ahmad Mohsenimanesh, Claude Laguë. Synchronous Tracking Control for Agricultural Wide-Span Implement Carrier (WSIC). Transactions of the ASABE. 2018; 61 (3):873-883.
Chicago/Turabian StyleChengming Luo; Ahmad Mohsenimanesh; Claude Laguë. 2018. "Synchronous Tracking Control for Agricultural Wide-Span Implement Carrier (WSIC)." Transactions of the ASABE 61, no. 3: 873-883.
Purpose China is by far the world’s largest energy consumer and importer. Reasonably forecasting the trend of China’s total energy consumption (CTEC) is of great significance. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new-structure grey system model (NSGM (1, 1)) to forecast CTEC. Design/methodology/approach Two matrices for computing the parameters of NSGM (1, 1) were defined and the specific calculation formula was derived. Since the NSGM (1, 1) model increases the number of its background values, which improves the smoothness effect of the background value and weakens the effects of extreme values in the raw sequence on the model’s performance; hence it has better simulation and prediction performances than traditional grey models. Finally, NSGM (1, 1) was used to forecast China’s total energy consumption during 2016-2025. The forecast showed CTEC will grow rapidly in the next ten years. Findings Therefore, in order to meet the target of keeping CTEC under control at 4.8 billion tons of standard coal in 2020, Chinese government needs to take necessary measures such as transforming the economic development pattern and enhancing the energy utilization efficiency. Originality/value A new-structure grey forecasting model, NSGM (1, 1), is proposed in this paper, which improves the smoothness and weakens the effects of extreme values and has a better structure and performance than those of other grey models. The authors successfully employ the new model to simulate and forecast CTEC. The research findings could aid Chinese government in formulating energy policies and help energy exporters make rational energy yield plans.
Bo Zeng; Chengming Luo. Forecasting the total energy consumption in China using a new-structure grey system model. Grey Systems: Theory and Application 2017, 7, 194 -217.
AMA StyleBo Zeng, Chengming Luo. Forecasting the total energy consumption in China using a new-structure grey system model. Grey Systems: Theory and Application. 2017; 7 (2):194-217.
Chicago/Turabian StyleBo Zeng; Chengming Luo. 2017. "Forecasting the total energy consumption in China using a new-structure grey system model." Grey Systems: Theory and Application 7, no. 2: 194-217.
Chengming Luo; Ahmad Mohsenimahesh; Claude Laguë. Automatic guidance and operation of agricultural Wide-Span Implement Carrier (WSIC):Kinematic modelling and simulation. 2013 Kansas City, Missouri, July 21 - July 24, 2013 2013, 1 .
AMA StyleChengming Luo, Ahmad Mohsenimahesh, Claude Laguë. Automatic guidance and operation of agricultural Wide-Span Implement Carrier (WSIC):Kinematic modelling and simulation. 2013 Kansas City, Missouri, July 21 - July 24, 2013. 2013; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleChengming Luo; Ahmad Mohsenimahesh; Claude Laguë. 2013. "Automatic guidance and operation of agricultural Wide-Span Implement Carrier (WSIC):Kinematic modelling and simulation." 2013 Kansas City, Missouri, July 21 - July 24, 2013 , no. : 1.
Ahmad Mohsenimanesh; Claude Laguë; Chengming Luo. Design & Simulation of Automatic Control and Operation of Agricultural Wide-Span Implement Carrier (WSIC). 2013 Kansas City, Missouri, July 21 - July 24, 2013 2013, 1 .
AMA StyleAhmad Mohsenimanesh, Claude Laguë, Chengming Luo. Design & Simulation of Automatic Control and Operation of Agricultural Wide-Span Implement Carrier (WSIC). 2013 Kansas City, Missouri, July 21 - July 24, 2013. 2013; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAhmad Mohsenimanesh; Claude Laguë; Chengming Luo. 2013. "Design & Simulation of Automatic Control and Operation of Agricultural Wide-Span Implement Carrier (WSIC)." 2013 Kansas City, Missouri, July 21 - July 24, 2013 , no. : 1.