Bed forming with water drip tape laying and plastic layer mulching machine

Abstract

The objective of this research was to develop and test the bed forming with water drip tape laying and plastic layer mulching machine. The prototype consists of a couple of disk plow, water drip tape laying set, plastic layer mulching set, a couple of pressing wheels and a couple of disks for soil covering on plastic rim. The components are installed on the steel frame and the tractor is used to pull the prototype in operation. Three levels of gear speed such as 2^nd gear (velocity of 1.23 m/s), 3^rd gear (velocity of 2.08 m/s) and 4^th gear (velocity of 2.63 m/s) were selected in this study. The engine speed was controlled at 1,300 rpm.  The results found that operation speeds of 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th gear give an average working capacity of 0.92, 0.94 and 1.48 rai per hour, working efficiency of 79.18%, 75.99% and 67.87%, an average fuel consumption of 3.30, 3.85 and 5.27 liters per hour respectively. The testing of plastic layer mulching showed of the 2^nd gear operation has an average working capability of plastic layer mulching 1.51 rai per hour, an average working efficiency of 17.45% and average fuel consumption of 2.4 liters per rai, respectively.