Process control system for scion and rootstock feeding of vegetable grafting machine

A vegetable grafting machine was designed which employed the method of splice grafting. The feeding of scion and rootstock in certain sequence is the key part of the machine and the structure, motion and accuracy of the feeding system decide the grafting productivity and quality. The operation process was determined in this study and the scion and rootstock feeding system was designed. A pneumatic system was utilized as the power of opening and closing of feeding manipulator, and a step motor was used to drive the feeding system to turn intermittently. An 89C51 Single Chip Microprocessor (SCM) was employed and programmed to realize the process control for the scion and rootstock feeding and the operation of the related cutting, conveying system, etc. The test showed that the grafting machine can realize the programmed function. The productivity is 450 grafted plants per hour.