# The Analysis of the Applications of Crop Seed Tape Sowing Technology and Equipment: A Review
## 4 Research on Key Technologies and Equipment of Seed Tape Laying
### Guiding of Seed Tape  
Whether the tape guiding device is reasonable or not will determine the seed tape strength received during the seeding process. If the design is unreasonable, the local tension of the seed rope will be too large and the rope will break. When seed ropes are being laid, the ditch depth needs to be determined according to the agronomic requirements of different crops. The seed tape guiding system mainly includes a seed tape disc and tape guiding wheels. [PERSON] (2018) experimentally studied the relationship between the rotational inertia of the seed tape reel and the friction moment of the bearing and proved the feasibility of driving the seed rope try to release the rope through the seed rope friction force. According to the number of tape guiding wheels, it can be divided into one-level tape guiding system, two-level tape guiding system and multistage-level tape guiding system. In order to improve the quality of tape laying, [PERSON] et al. (2018) studied the dynamic response characteristics of the tape laying system and optimized the rope angle of tape laying (Figure 6). Based on the stress analysis of the tape guiding wheel, [PERSON] et al. (2018, 2019) designed a seed tape guiding device that belongs to two-level tape guiding system. It combined the guiding device with the ditching device to further simplify the structure of the seeder. When the soil has been opened the seeds groove, the seed tape was laid into the bottom of the groove immediately (Figure 7a). To improve the performance of the seed tape planter, [PERSON] et al. (2019) carried out finite element analysis on the frame of the tape guiding mechanism and optimized the structural parameters. The most common problem in the process of rope laying is broken and disorderly tape. [PERSON] et al. (2019) based on the discrete element method (DEM) optimized the seed tape guiding opener which reduced the resistance of ditching. Figure 7 also showed another 3 kinds of tape guiding devices. Figure 7b is a knife guide tape opener produced by SEDOS. Figure 7c is a press-in tape guiding mechanism developed by [PERSON] et al. (2019) which uses the ground wheel to press the seed tape into the soil. Figure 7d shows the core-drawing tape guiding opener developed by [PERSON] (2018). Figure 5: Air suction seed metering device ([[https://www.sedos.sk/Data/1049/UserFiles/SEDOS%](https://www.sedos.sk/Data/1049/UserFiles/SEDOS%)]([https://www.sedos.sk/Data/1049/UserFiles/SEDOS%](https://www.sedos.sk/Data/1049/UserFiles/SEDOS%)) 20 Catalogue%202012%20 ENG.pdf (accessed on 8 October 2021)). hand-guided seed tape planter combined with a rotary cultivator. It can complete rotary tillage and seed laying seed tape in one operation (Figure 9b). The traction seed tape planter is mainly pulled by a tractor. Figure 10a shows a tractor-towed seed tape planter connected to the tractor by its parallel four-bar coping mechanism. The seed tape reel was connected to the frame through the mounting arm and was laid down to the seed groove through the guide rope device, which has a good operation effect [93]. [PERSON] et al. [94] designed a tractor-traction type two-row rope planter. The planter was characterized by a collection of fertilizer discharge systems, rope laying system, rope burying system and film coating system. This machine was mainly used for tobacco, tomato, corn and other crop seedings. In order to improve the adaptability of rope seeding machine to the soil, [PERSON] [95] proposed an anti-blocking device when improving the design of the new generation of prototypes and developed a four-row rice seeding rope direct seeding machine and the tractor traction work to improve the work efficiency, as shown in Figure 10b. In 2013, [PERSON] et al. developed a traction four-row rice seed tape planter. The mechanism used a pressing wheel instead of the traditional ditching method to lay down the seed tape into the soil. This mechanism also adds a rope cutting system driven by a four-bar mechanism.