The validation of the method of speed test of seeds moving in a tube of a pneumatic seed drill

Civilization development has reduced the number of farming areas, which has led to the situation in which farmers are forced to obtain a higher yield from much smaller acreage. It has resulted in the growth of new methods in agriculture, including precise grain drilling. Under the LIDER project developing the tube clogging control system, there has been identified the need for determining caryopses speed affecting a sensor. Therefore in the article, following the review of all available methods of measuring particle speed it was concluded that there was no speed measurement method for caryopses flying out of a tube as a result of the aerodynamic force which could register the flight trajectory. The aim of the article is to introduce the method and a test stand to measure caryopsis speed by the image analysis method. The method involves applying series of images taken with a high-speed LAVISION camera: HighSpeedStar5 and the FOTOPOMIARY programme. The error difference between the developed innovative method and an analytical method was at the acceptable level of 2%. The developed method and the stand are universal as they make it possible to measure speed for various grains and crops in a seed drill tube.