A Study on Wheel Design for a Self-Propelled Boom Sprayer considering the Rice Plant Damage and Wheel Track-Plant Damage Simulation of Various Steering Vehicles

수도작용 자주식 붐방제기의 작물손상을 고려한 차륜설계 및 조향형식별 차륜궤적 -작물손상의 시뮬레이션

The present pesticide application technology widely used with a power sprayer in Korea is assessed as the problem awaiting solution in the point of view of its ineffectiveness, inefficiency, and environmental contamination. As one approach to get rid of these problems, the boom spraying with ultra-low volume and precision application technology has been recommended. The study was undertaken to investigate plants damages incurred by the self-propelled boom-sprayer vehicle, to develop the design criteria of vehicle wheel, and to compare plant damages caused by the front wheel steering vehicle, the 4-wheel drive vehicle and the articulated vehicle, by the computer simulation. The experiment showed that the amount of damaged plants incurred by the self-propelled boom sprayer were about 0.29% in average in the field size of 100m$\times$50m(0.5ha), about 60~80% of which recovering while growing. The recommandable wheel size was analyzed to be 70~100cm in diameter, 8~15cm in width from the vehicle-plant-soil relationship. The simulation on damaged plants anticipated to be incurred by various steering vehicles showed that the smaller the turning radius, the lesser the damaged plants within its range of 3~5m. Average plant damage rate by the front wheel steering vehicle, the 4-wheel drive vehicle and articulated vehicle was relatively assessed to be 2 : 1.8 : 1.