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As the most advanced vegetable cultivation technology adopted all over the world, tray seedling is the key link of vegetables to increase crop yield and economic benefit. As the key to the whole production process, the precision of tray seedlings is directly related to the survival rate of seeds. Combining the small scale of the domestic vegetable tray seedling industry, low level of mechanization, and low profit of sowing equipment, a tray seedling precision seeder is proposed in this paper and ADAMS software is used to carry out dynamic analysis on the main stressed parts. The results showed possible problems in the design of this type of mechanism, and possible causes were analyzed, the structure of the precision planter was optimized based on the results, and the motion performance of the seeder was improved, which is of great significance for the realization of precision seeding in an automated assembly line.

In order to address the time-consuming and labor-intensive challenges as well as the suboptimal operational quality encountered in the conventional processes of fruit bagging within expansive orchards, an innovative end-of-bagging actuator is proposed, which can be installed on a fruit-production robot. Due to the excessive power sources required to complete the bagging operation, while also taking into account the quality and cost of the end effector, we have implemented a clutch transmission system to control individual motors, thereby achieving efficient bag-opening and collection actions. Through kinematic analysis of the bagging end effector, the optimal bag opening size is determined to be 40.3372 mm, with a deviation of 0.1428 mm from the design target and an error rate of 0.35%. This ensures the desired bag size for bagging juvenile fruits. Moreover, a dynamic simulation model comprising rigid drive components and a flexible clutch was developed. The simulation results demonstrate the system's stable performance. However, it is evident that the gear speed falls below that of the flexible clutch, resulting in insufficient bag opening and bag gathering compared to the intended design target. The observed phenomenon is a result of the characteristics exhibited by the flexible clutch. Specifically, the demands for bagging and stretching can be accommodated by modifying the stiffness and geometric configuration of the flexible clutch, alongside the level of operational force. To conclude, the suggested end effector can successfully simulate the implementation of the manual bagging process. By taking into account the quality and cost of the end effector, a clutch drive system was utilized to regulate a single motor, resulting in efficient bag-opening and collection actions. This approach offers a more integrated and efficient solution compared to manual bagging and semi-automatic mechanically assisted bagging methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydroponic lettuce was prone to pest and disease problems after transplantation. Manual identification of the current growth status of each hydroponic lettuce not only consumed time and was prone to errors but also failed to meet the requirements of high-quality and efficient lettuce cultivation. In response to this issue, this paper proposed a method called YOLO-EfficientNet for identifying the growth status of hydroponic lettuce. Firstly, the video data of hydroponic lettuce were processed to obtain individual frame images. And 2240 images were selected from these frames as the image dataset A. Secondly, the YOLO-v8n object detection model was trained using image dataset A to detect the position of each hydroponic lettuce in the video data. After selecting the targets based on the predicted bounding boxes, 12,000 individual lettuce images were obtained by cropping, which served as image dataset B. Finally, the EfficientNet-v2s object classification model was trained using image dataset B to identify three growth statuses (Healthy, Diseases, and Pests) of hydroponic lettuce. The results showed that, after training image dataset A using the YOLO-v8n model, the accuracy and recall were consistently around 99%. After training image dataset B using the EfficientNet-v2s model, it achieved excellent scores of 95.78 for Val-acc, 94.68 for Test-acc, 96.02 for Recall, 96.32 for Precision, and 96.18 for F1-score. Thus, the method proposed in this paper had potential in the agricultural application of identifying and classifying the growth status in hydroponic lettuce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When cleaning the surface of a glass greenhouse, the washing machine often encounters slippery tracks or strong winds, in which case the washing machine is very likely to deviate from the axis of the greenhouse. In order to improve the stability and reliability of the glass greenhouse cleaner under different working conditions, this paper studies the controller of the glass greenhouse cleaner and puts forward a fuzzy PID control scheme optimized by the PSO algorithm. Using Adams and Matlab to jointly simulate the machine model, the results show that the particle swarm fuzzy PID controller has the best control effect and can make the cleaner adaptable to a variety of working conditions. The system overshoot was reduced by up to 35.5%, the response time by up to 3 s, and the difference between left and right wheel speeds by up to 0.086 deg/s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pressure fluctuations in the draft tube mainly arise from the rotational motion of the vortex rope. The formation and development of the vortex rope are significantly influenced by cavitation. However, the precise mechanism underlying the progression of cavitation from its initial weak state to a more severe level remains unclear. The objective of this study is to investigate cavitation in a pump-turbine operating under part load turbine conditions. Numerical simulations were conducted to analyze the impact of the cavitation coefficient on various parameters, including vapor volume, efficiency, and head. With increasing degree of cavitation, the vortex rope's pattern in the draft tube undergoes a transition from a helical type to a torch-like type. This transition consequently leads to a shift in the dominant frequency of pressure fluctuations within the draft tube. Furthermore, the helical vortex rope exhibits a higher rotational speed compared to the torch-like vortex rope, thereby causing a more pronounced effect on the pressure field. The factors contributing to the morphological transition of the vortex rope were explored, with particular emphasis on the accelerating reverse axial flow and the reduction in the draft tube's circumferential velocity. Additionally, this study examined the effect of the cavitation coefficient on the swirl number and flow pattern, while also assessing its impact on entropy production. These findings provide valuable insight into the control of cavitation flow in pump-turbines operating under part load conditions. Moreover, they carry significant implications for the design and optimization of pump-turbine systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pumped storage hydropower is perhaps the most reliable solution to the energy crisis, but its development and application are limited by hydraulic instability, such as S-shaped characteristics. In this paper, based on the S-shaped region pressure fluctuation test of a model pump turbine, the connection between the guide vane opening and S-shaped pressure fluctuation is established, and a guide vane opening of 28 mm is selected for numerical analysis to expand the discussion of the S-shaped pressure fluctuation characteristics to large guide vane openings. The frequency components of the vaneless space are extracted by fast Fourier transform analysis, and the rotational stall frequency is identified. Among them, the blade passage frequency and its multiplier are induced by the rotor–stator interaction, and the low-frequency component of pressure fluctuations is induced by the rotational stall and vortex rope. Based on this, the internal flow and flow rate along the S-shaped characteristic curve and their correlation with the rotational stall are analyzed. In addition, the percentage of and variation in the entropy production rate in the S-shaped region are also analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beamforming is widely used in structural health monitoring (SHM) systems for impact or damage localization. Beamforming directionality is achieved by the constructive interference of sensor wavefronts, which results in a significant amplification of the measured signal in a particular direction. For beamforming applications, the cost per sensor is typically significant, because of the sensor itself, and the associated electronics. Therefore, in order to minimize the cost of SHM in practice, it is highly desirable to reduce the number of sensors. Beamforming with an array of sensors requires an advanced signal processing technique to detect the direction-of-arrival (DOA). In addition, by deploying more sensors, better detection accuracy can be achieved. In this paper, the non-equidistant linear sensor array is proposed, to obtain lower costs while guaranteeing reasonable detection accuracy. In addition, the proposed sensor deployment scheme is able to reduce the effects of "spatial aliasing," which phenomenon is typically encountered in the equidistant linear sensor array layout. To validate the performance of the proposed non-equidistant linear array technique in SHM applications, several finite element models (FEM) simulation and experimental investigations are carried out. Different sensor array layouts are also compared to optimize the performance of the non-equidistant linear array. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a new sensor cluster configuration for localizing an acoustic source in a plate using uniform linear array beamforming and T-shaped sensor clusters. This technique requires neither the properties of the plate material nor a dense array of sensors to find the direction of arrival of the acoustic source. It functions by placing four sensors in a cluster in the shape of the letter "'T" over a small region of the plate. Uniform linear array beamforming-based source localization is carried out by the constructive interference of different sensor signals. However, this approach has the disadvantage of a very low resolution when the direction of arrival approaches certain values. The L-shaped sensor clusters use the information from the time difference of arrival between the sensors to estimate the direction of arrival, which has a high resolution in all directions except for the direction that is very close to vertical to the cluster. In this study, we numerically and experimentally demonstrate that the proposed T-shaped sensor cluster can accurately localize the acoustic source with no blind area. We also detail its superior performance compared to both uniform linear array beamforming and L-shaped clusters. In the experimental investigation, the maximum deviation of impact source localization was reduced significantly, from 54° to 4° for an aluminum plate, and from 42° to 3° for a composite plate. Furthermore, this novel combined sensor array layout requires only a few sensors, which can significantly reduce the cost of structural health monitoring practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a method to improve the performance of PEMFCs using porous material as a flow channel baffle is proposed. The results show that PEMFCs with four porous baffles flow channels have better performance at high current density compared with the traditional flow channel. The structural parameters of the flow channel explored in this study include porosity, the thickness of the baffle and the number of baffles, and their influence on the performance of PEMFCs. Sensitivity analysis results show that the performance of the PEMFCs with the porous baffle channel is the most sensitive to baffle thickness, and the thickness and baffle could be appropriately adjusted. The number of plates and porosity of the baffle are adjusted to improve the performance of the PEMFCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This letter presents a bistable permanent magnet actuator, based on double wing magnetic flux (DWMF) formed by the structure of welding sleeve and slotted armature. The double wing magnetic flux consist of high wing magnetic flux (HWMF) and low wing magnetic flux (LWMF), resulting in bistable performance under differentiating control. Parameters improvement around DWMF is analyzed based on modeling, and optimized results for a prototype actuator are obtained. The experimental and simulation results agree well, and show that the prototype actuator can realize bistable performance under the DC step voltage drive, with the holding force of 8.2 N (without current) and the restoring force of −31.7 N (with negative current), the dynamic results show that the displacement response time within 8 mm is 28 ms, of which the actuation time is 16.5 ms, the transient maximum power consumption of the restoring period is 18 W. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a high speed valve (HSV) actuator with low power consumption. The structure design of tapered armature and control method of double duty ratio pulse width modulation (PWM) is proposed in HSV actuator to improve steady and transient characteristics. The electric-magneto-mechanical model of the HSV actuator is established and investigated by theoretical analysis. Parameters improvement of the HSV actuator was analyzed by a simulation model, and optimized results for a prototype actuator have been obtained. The experimental and simulation curves agree well with the changing trend and show that the opening time of the HSV actuator is 7.3 ms, the closing time is 20 ms, and power consumption in maintenance stage is 1.35 W, within the stroke of 2.5 mm. Compared to normal driving method, the proposed structure and method have advantage of opening time reduced by 37%, closing time reduced by 29%, and steady-state power consumption reduced by 93.5%. The application of proposed structure and method in the HSV actuator is available to meet the driving requirements of both steady and transient performance in fluid control systems better, especially in power shortage or power supply inconvenient engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selenium (Se) is an essential trace element for human and animal health. Se fertilizer has been used to increase the Se content in crops to meet the Se requirements in humans and animals. To address the challenge of Se poisoning in plants, the mechanisms underlying Se-induced stress in plants must be understood. Here, to elucidate the effects of Se stress on the protein levels in pepper, we used an integrated approach involving tandem mass tag labeling, high performance liquid chromatography fractionation, and mass spectrometry-based analysis. A total of 4,693 proteins were identified, 3,938 of which yielded quantitative information. Among them, the expression of 172 proteins was up-regulated, and the expression of 28 proteins was down-regulated in the Se/mock treatment comparison. According to the above data, we performed a systematic bioinformatics analysis of all identified proteins and differentially expressed proteins (DEPs). The DEPs were most strongly associated with the terms "metabolic process," "posttranslational modification, protein turnover, chaperones," and "protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum" according to Gene Ontology, eukaryotic orthologous groups classification, and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analysis, respectively. Furthermore, several heat shock proteins were identified as DEPs. These results provide insights that may facilitate further studies on the pepper proteome expressed downstream of the Se stress response. Our data revealed that the responses of pepper to Se stress involve various pathways., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2019 Zhang et al.)