# Development of Automatic Accumulating Equipment for Roller-Type Onion Pot-Seeding Machine
## 4 Conclusions  
In this study, accumulating equipment for a roller-type onion pot-seeding machine was developed, and the appropriate operating conditions were derived through factorial experiments.  
The developed accumulating equipment was a flat plate type. Its main components were a conveyor belt, elevator plate, pneumatic-type actuator, stopper bracket, limit switch, control box, alarm bell, air compressor, and connecting brackets. The accumulating equipment operates as follows: when the pot tray that completed seeding is transported onto the elevator plate by the conveyor belt, the operation of the conveyor belt stops and the operation of the pneumatic-type actuator starts by the signal from limit switch. The elevator plate returns to its original position after being raised and lowered by the pneumatic-type actuator, but the pot tray is accumulated onto the stopper bracket. When the elevator plate returns to the original position, the conveyor belt operates again and accumulates the second and third pot trays on the stopper bracket in sequence in the same manner.  
Factorial experiments were conducted to derive the appropriate operating conditions of the developed accumulating equipment. The experiments were conducted while the conveyor belt speed was varied from 0.09 to 0.27 m/s and the operating time of the pneumatic-type actuator varied from 0.8 to 1.5 s. The seed bounce was measured under each condition. As a result, a conveyor belt speed of 0.12 m/s and actuator operating time of 1.0 s were found to be the appropriate operating conditions for the lowest seed bounce rate and high work efficiency.  
Factorial experiments were conducted under the conservative conditions that the seeded pot tray was not covered. Therefore, if there are no seeds to be thrown out in this experiment, there will be no empty cells in pot tray in the real seeding work.  
The application of the derived operating conditions to the developed accumulating equipment is expected to reduce the labor load and increase the work efficiency required for onion seeding.  
**Author Contributions:**: Performed the experiments and analyzed the data, S.-J.H.; Writing--Original Draft Preparation, S.-J.H.; Writing--Review and Editing, J.-S.N.
**Funding:**: This work was supported by the Korea Institute of Planning and Evaluation for Technology in Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (IPET) through the Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Research Center Support Program funded by Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) (716001-7). This research was also supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2017R1D1A3B03033338).  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Conveyor Belt Speed**} & \multicolumn{6}{c}{**Pneumatic-Type Actuator Operating Times (s)**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Average**} \\ \cline{2-2} \cline{4-9}  & **0.8** & **0.9** & **1.0** & **1.1** & **1.2** & **1.3** & **1.4** & **1.5** \\ \hline
0.09 & 0.37 & 0.15 & 0.07 & 0.15 & 0.22 & 0.30 & 0.67 & 1.71 & 0.46 \\
0.12 & 0.45 & 0.37 & 0.07 & 0.22 & 0.45 & 0.52 & 0.97 & 2.68 & 0.72 \\
0.15 & 0.52 & 0.22 & 0.15 & 0.30 & 0.67 & 0.89 & 1.79 & 2.60 & 0.89 \\
0.18 & 0.37 & 0.45 & 0.22 & 0.45 & 0.67 & 0.74 & 1.86 & 2.46 & 0.90 \\
0.21 & 0.52 & 0.67 & 0.45 & 0.67 & 0.89 & 1.12 & 1.86 & 2.90 & 1.13 \\
0.24 & 0.67 & 0.52 & 0.22 & 1.12 & 0.97 & 1.12 & 1.93 & 2.90 & 1.18 \\
0.27 & 1.04 & 1.26 & 1.26 & 1.49 & 1.56 & 1.79 & 2.31 & 3.27 & 1.75 \\ Average & 0.56 & 0.52 & 0.35 & 0.63 & 0.78 & 0.92 & 1.63 & 2.65 & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 4: Empty rate of pot tray cells (unit: %).