关键词: 辣椒, 全自动移栽机, 交替取投苗装置, 顶—夹结合式, 双苗盘

Abstract: To address the challenges of low efficiency and frequent failure in seedling picking and dropping in fully automatic chili pepper transplanting machines, an alternating seedling picking and dropping device was developed based on an ejector-picker combination method. The device was designed to work with double seedling trays, enabling the alternating picking of entire seedling rows and batch-wise dropping. This paper outlined the structural composition and working principles of the device. To ensure minimal seedling damage, the required clamping force for seedling extraction was analyzed and defined. Theoretical and simulation analyses were conducted to study seedling motion trajectories. To validate the effectiveness of the developed device, experimental tests were conducted using pepper seedlings. The experiments considered three main factors: average frequency of seedling picking and dropping, seedling growth duration, and the moisture content of the seedling bowl. The key response indicators included the seedling picking success rate, seedling dropping success rate, combined picking and dropping success rate, and the rate of damaged seedlings. A three-factor and three-level orthogonal experiment was conducted to determine the optimal combination of operating conditions. The results showed that the seedlings picking success rate reached 96.82%, the dropping success rate was 95.00%, the rate of damaged seedlings was 0.91%, and the combined picking and dropping success rate was 94.09%. These results met the performance requirements for high-speed transplanting operations. The findings offer a reliable reference for the design and development of efficient automatic seedling picking and dropping mechanisms.

Key words: pepper, automatic transplanting machine, alternating seedling picking and dropping mechanism, combined ejector-picker, double seedling trays