Design and Testing of a Closed Multi-Channel Air-Blowing Seedling Pick-Up Device for an Automatic Vegetable Transplanter

In this study, a closed multi-channel air-blowing plug seedling pick-up device and a combined plug tray were designed to address the issues of complex structure, high seedling damage rates and low pick-up efficiency in fully automated vegetable transplanter systems. The device operates by sealing the plug seedlings in a seedling cup, where compressed air is channeled into the sealed cavity through multiple passages during the seedling pick-up process. The upper surface of the seedling plug is subjected to uniform force, overcoming the friction and adhesion between the plug seedlings and the tray. This process presses the seedlings into the guide tube, completing the pick-up operation. A mechanical model for the plug seedlings was developed, and the kinetics of the pick-up process were analyzed. The multi-channel high-pressure airflow was simulated and evaluated, identifying three key parameters affecting seedling pick-up performance: water content of the seedling plug, air pressure during pick-up, and air-blowing duration. Using these factors as variables, and with seedling pick-up rate and substrate loss rate as evaluation indicators, single-factor experiments and a three-factor, three-level orthogonal experiment were conducted. The experiments’ results showed that the best seedling pick-up performance was achieved when the water content of the plug was 20%, the air pressure was 0.3 MPa, and the air-blowing time was 30 ms. Under these conditions, the seedling pick-up success rate was 97.22%, and the substrate loss rate was 10.46%.