Design and Development of Rice Pot-Seedling Transplanting Machinery Based on a Non-Circular Gear Mechanism

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I recommend the article for further work in the editorial office.

The topic discussed in the article is interesting due to the new design solution of the machine.

However, the authors quote in the text the results of research related to the functioning of the machine. The research methodology was not provided and the plan and program of the research were not provided. Supplementing the article with these issues and providing detailed research results along with their statistical and graphic preparation will significantly improve the quality of the article.

Author Response

Many thanks to the valuable comments from the reviewers. The research methodology was not provided and the plan and program of the research were not provided. In response to the lack of plan and program of the research raised by the reviewers, we have added the theoretical research part of the rice pot seedling transplanting mechanism, which has been highlighted in red font in lines 218-285 of the manuscript. In response to the detailed research results of the manuscript proposed by the reviewers, our test part is a confirmatory test, not a comparative test, China has the implementation standard of rice pot transplanting machine, and our test is to verify that the developed rice pot transplanting machine meets the implementation standard, so many of the research results are video materials, which cannot be fully added to the manuscript.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The work can hardly be qualified as a research paper; it is more akin to a report on the development of a device. It lacks rigor in its validation. Only a few images from field tests are shown. The test data are limited to presenting results from three experiments that measure the effects of three different speeds. No comparisons with other alternatives are provided, nor are different usage scenarios validated.

Author Response

Many thanks to the valuable comments from the reviewers, we have added the theoretical research section to the manuscript, which has been highlighted in red font in lines 218-285 and 379-393. In response to the lack of detailed research results raised by the reviewers, our test part is a confirmatory test, not a comparative test, China has an implementation standard for rice pot transplanting machine, our test is to verify that the developed rice pot transplanting machine meets the implementation standard, China's rice pot seedling transplanting machine has not yet matured the model, so there is no comparison with other technologies, most of our research results are video materials, can not be added to the manuscript, and the reviewer is also requested to understand.

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The Authors have presented interesting results on the rice transplanting machine. The detailed development procedure of the prototype and its field tests are reported.

I would recommend accepting the manuscript in its present form. 

The only comment that could be of interest to future readers is the analysis of why planting depth differs by 8% and due to what factors the missing rate is 2%.

 

Here are the main comments regarding the main questions.  

1. What is the main question addressed by the research? The main question addressed in the manuscript is the development procedure (mainly mechanical and kinematic design) of the rice planting mechanism, manufacturing, and field experimentation.

2. Do you consider the topic original or relevant in the field? Does it address a specific gap in the field? The manuscript discusses the possibility of using non-circular gears to obtain the required trajectory of the rice transplant. 3. What does it add to the subject area compared with other published material? The Authors have presented interesting results on the rice transplanting machine. The detailed development procedure of the prototype and its field tests are reported. Even though the manuscript is written in less scientific form, the practical results would be interesting to engineers and scientists in the field.

• feasibility study of the rice transplanting mechanism
• detailed design of the mechanism
  
• experimental validation of the mechanism

 4. What specific improvements should the authors consider regarding the methodology? What further controls should be considered?

• The only comment that could be of interest to future readers is the analysis of why planting depth differs by 8% and due to what factors the missing rate is 2%.

5. Are the conclusions consistent with the evidence and arguments presented and do they address the main question posed?  The conclusions are consistent with the main question.  

6. Are the references appropriate? The references cover a wide range of published papers in the field.

Author Response

Thank you very much for the valuable comments of the reviewers, and the following are our point-by-point replies to the questions raised by the reviewers:

 

1. The main problem solved in this study is the innovative design and supporting development of the non-circular gear rice transplanting mechanism and the corresponding seedling box transmission system, and the kinematic model and software part of this paper have been added to lines 218-285 of the manuscript, highlighted in red font.
2. The non-circular gear used in this study is the Bezier gear, and the gear pitch curve is the Bezier curve, and the ideal rice transplanting trajectory and attitude at the end are obtained by optimizing the non-circular gear transmission ratio.
3. Our research systematically describes the innovative design method of the transplanting mechanism of non-circular gear rice pot seedlings, gives the idea of the design and processing of the transplanting mechanism and the seedling box transmission system, and verifies the feasibility of the non-circular gear transplanting mechanism with experiments. It fills the gap in the innovative design of rice pot transplanting machine. We also added a theoretical description of the planting arm in lines 379-393 of the manuscript.  
4. In the future, we will consider how to optimize the transplanting mechanism of rice potseedlings to improve the success rate of transplanting and reduce the rate of seedling injury.
5. In the conclusion part, our reference is based on the implementation standard of rice pot seedling transplanting machine in China, and our test is a confirmatory test, and the experimental results meet the implementation standard of rice pot seedling transplanting machine, so it is consistent with the argument put forward.
6. We have referred to a wide range of literature related to rice pot seedling transplanting institutions, and the literature that has been cited is related to the content of this study.

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article concerns the design and development of machines for transplanting rice seedlings into pots, based on a non-wheel drive mechanism. The research methods used seem correct and sufficient. The proposed technical solution for the non-wheel gear mechanism increases efficiency and reduces the risk of injury. In order to adapt the designed retractable mechanism to the transplanting machine, research was carried out on key technologies such as the gear system, rice feeding system and rice box of the rice bowl transplanting machine, and two types of planters were designed and developed. After experimental verification and analysis, both models can achieve the expected effect of transplanting rice bowl seedlings, and the transplanting quality is very good. Experiments and demonstrations carried out in many places in China using a specially designed machine for transplanting rice seedlings into pots showed the effectiveness of planting in many parameters, which resulted in improved production efficiency.

This is an interesting topic, especially considering the possibility of using the solution not only in China, which produces the most rice in the world and has the highest productivity per hectare, but also in other rice-producing countries. At the same time, the topic is important due to the need to ensure food security, which is still a challenge in the face of war or pandemic. Perhaps it would be worth analyzing the rice market in the world and how rice contributes to ensuring food security. I ask the Authors to check the text for too long sentences and shorten them into several smaller ones, because it is difficult to read such a technical text that has a sentence of e.g. 5 lines (e.g. 445-449).

Best regards

Author Response

Thank you very much for the valuable comments of the reviewers, we have added the significance of the design and development of rice transplanting mechanism in lines 27-29 and 522. In addition, we are aware of the problem of sentence length in the manuscript, which has been revised and highlighted in red font.

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Although the manuscript improved its theoretical support and the detailing of the modeling, I believe that analysis is still lacking. Fieldwork cannot constitute a result when it is not compared with some control. I suggest carrying out computational analyses using CAE-type software packages to reinforce the verification of the proposed artifact. I still think that the scientific and engineering soundness is very small if these analyses and greater comparisons are not carried out.

Author Response

Dear reviewers:  

Thank you very much for your suggestions, we have added additional content related to simulation analysis. The displacement curve and velocity curve at the end of the non-circular gear transplanting mechanism were derived, and the motion characteristics of the key position points in the transplanting process were analyzed. Due to the limitations of the paper, it is difficult for us to add all the research to the article, please understand.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx