Performance analysis of "bypass suction fertilizer" mode of parallel four-Venturi tube fertilizer applicator

Abstract

In order to understand the performance of "bypass suction fertilizer" mode of Venturi tube fertilizer applicator, on the base of its working principle, four-Venturi tube fertilizer applicators were designed. Some of the parameters are La=105 mm, Lb=55 mm, the length on both sides of the four-way T-shaped outlet is L1-L8=36 mm. The inner diameter of the inner tube channel is 50 mm. In the parallel four-Venturi tube fertilizer applicator, the suction inlet is 1 atmospheric pressure, the nutrient solution outlet is 0.10 MPa, and the pressure at the water inlet is 0.15, 0.25, 0.35, 0.45, 0.55 and 0.65 MPa. The FloEFD software was used to simulate and analyze the amount of fertilizer absorption by the fertilizer applicator, and the working characteristics of the fertilizer absorption of each channel and the pressure difference between the inlet and outlet were positively correlated. Based on the analysis results, a fertilizer suction pump was further added to the outlets of the parallel four-Venturi tube fertili-zer applicators to form four fertilizer suction channels + bypass fertilizer suction type pipeline fertilizer applicator ("bypass suction fertilizer" mode). The performance simulation results show that the "bypass suction fertilizer" mode of the four-Venturi tube fertilizer applicator in parallel can improve the overall fertilizer absorption by more than 31.08%, reduce the variance by 74.12%, and realize the pressure output of the nutrient solution. Furthermore, the performance test of the "bypass suction fertilizer" mode of the parallel four-Venturi tube fertilizer applicator is carried. The average measured fertilizer capacity is 693.25 L/h, and the average relative error with the simulation analysis data is only 4%, which verifies the simulation results. The research lays a foundation for the development of the "bypass suction fertilizer" mode of the parallel four-Venturi tube fertilizer applicator.