Concept Design of a Portable Carrot Seeder

A concept design of a carrot seeder, filed for patent application, was successfully developed in this study. Farmers were visited and interviewed and the data regarding their existing practices in planting carrots, corresponding tools and equipment and planting requirements such as hill spacing, row spacing and plant bed size were gathered. These data were used as input in the preparation and simulation of the seeder design with the aid of Solidworks software. The seeder consisted of seed metering assembly, frame, ground wheels, skid, handle, power transmission, furrow opener and seed covering mechanism. It has 5 metering discs and the spacing between rows is adjustable. The metering disc is provided with grooves on its periphery of size that can accommodate 2 to 5 carrot seeds. Draft force to push the device in usage is 10 kg-force. The designed overall weight is 12 kg.