Development of an Automatic Tray-Discharging System for Rice Seedlings

The objectives of this study were to develop an automatic tray-discharging system for rice seedlings that can automatically carry germinated trays from pallets to conveyors whereby they are then conveyed to the nursery field for further acclimatisation. The designed system consists of three main units: the pallet-conveying unit, the tray-relocating unit and tray-destacking unit. A programmable logic controller with a frequency converter, was used to process the sequential events. The experimental results showed that the system worked at a tray discharge rate of 1,671.8 trays per hour, with a 98.1 % success rate for the processes. Farmers appraised the system in terms of functionality and stability. In the future, the system throughput will need to be further increased to allow commercialisation.