Implementation of a magnetorheological damper on a no-till seeding assembly for optimising seeding depth

Experiments were performed seeding wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) operation with a target depth of 40 mm with different damping parameters set on the MR damper by feeding its coil with different current values. The position of each single seed within nine 2 m sections was georeferenced using a total station, to calculate the seeding depth for both seeding assemblies. The seeding assembly with the MR damper, excited with 0.5 A, resulted in a better seeding depth variation with a mean value of 39.8 mm, standard deviation of 5.8 mm and 95th percentile of 49.8 mm over that of other current values applied on the MR damped and the original seeding assembly. The dynamics were improved with a reduction of 21.34% and 67.69% in the amplitude of the vertical and impact forces, respectively. The seeding depth error compared to the target depth for the damped seeding assembly (at 0.5 A) was less than 11.9 mm for 95% of the samples, while this figure was equal to 21.3 mm for the undamped seeding assembly.