INTEGRATED PLOUGHING SYSTEM
Aravindan Thanigaimani, aravind1681994@gmail.com, +91 9952081979
Janarrtanan Jothimurugan, janarrtanan26@gmail.com, +91 9087833377
ABSTRACT
This project is about creating a new gardening equipment
which works without the electricity or any other power
sources, and operated manually. In this project, an existing
cycle was remodelled by adding new components to offer
some auxillary features. So an ordinary bicycle has been
turned into a new equipment for this purpose. This
equipment can be used in low level and medium level
gardening works. It serves well in the dry land and hard
penetrable surfaces. Mechanical force is applied on the
vehicle. In this, the user can sow the seeds at the place of
their will, this feature adds an extra value for the
equipment, giving the user a full dominant control over the
land. So the following report explains detaily about the
project.
Keyword: Integrated Ploughing System, Gardening.
1. INTRODUCTION
In years of time, horticulture and gardening have been an
art and many devices have emerged in a prolonged duration
for fulfilling the needs and requirements of gardening. In
this project, we came up with an innovative and cost
efficient way of making the work easier with the help of
existing bicycle remodeling it into a new device, in such a
way the cost is drastically reduced with respect to the work
done. The total focus in this project is building an
organized and sequential way of gardening. And the
sequence are ploughing, sowing and covering the seed back
to the soil. So many come up with the idea of electronics or
any fuel based solution for the gardening. But this project
suite the best to touch the basic needs of the uneducated
farmers too. This equipment will surely be used with base
by anyone who has poor technical knowledge too.
a) GARDENING
Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants
as part of horticulture. In gardens, ornamental plants are
often grown for their flowers, foliage, or overall
appearance, useful plants, such as root vegetables, leaf
vegetables, fruits, and herbs, are grown for consumption,
for use as dyes, or for medicinal or cosmetic use.
Gardening is considered to be a relaxing activity for many
people. Gardening ranges in scale from fruit orchards, to
long boulevard plantings with one or more different types
of shrubs, trees and herbaceous plants, to residential yards
including lawns and foundation plantings, to plants in large
or small containers grown inside or outside. Gardening may
be very specialized, with only one type of plant grown, or
involve a large number of different plants in mixed
plantings. It involves an active participation in the growing
of plants, and tends to be labor intensive, which
differentiates it from farming or forestry.
b) TYPES OF GARDENING
Indoor Gardening
Native Plant Gardening
Water Gardening
c) PLOUGHING
The plough is a tool or machine used in farming for initial
cultivation of soil in preparation for sowing seed or
planting to loosen or turn the soil. Ploughs are traditionally
drawn by working animals such as horses or cattle, but in
modern times may be drawn by tractors. A plough may be
made of wood, iron, or steel frame with an attached blade
or stick used to cut the earth. It has been a basic instrument
for most of recorded history. The primary purpose of
ploughing is to turn over the upper layer of the soil,
bringing fresh nutrients to the surface, while burying
weeds, the remains of previous crops and allowing them to
break down. As the plough is drawn through the soil it
creates long trenches of fertile soil called furrows. In
modern use, a ploughed field is typically left to dry out, and
is then harrowed before planting. Plowing and cultivating a
soil homogenizes and modifies the upper l2 to 25 cm of the
soil to form a plow layer. In many soils, the majority of fine
plant feeder roots can be found in the topsoil or plow layer.
d) SOWING TECHNIQUES
Among the major field crops, oats, wheat, and rye are
sowed, grasses and legumes are seeded, and maize and
soya beans are planted. In planting, wider rows (generally
75 cm (30 in) or more) are used, and the intent is to have
precise, even spacing between individual seeds in the row;
various mechanisms have been devised to count out
individual seeds at exact intervals. Planting is the process
of casting handfuls of seed over prepared ground, or
broadcasting (from which the technological term is
derived). Usually, a drag or barrow is employed to
incorporate the seed into the soil. Though labor-intensive
for any but small areas, this method is still used in some
situations. Practice is required to sow evenly and at the
desired rate. A hand seeder can be used for sowing, though
it is less of a help than it is for the smaller seeds of grasses
and legumes.
2. MECHANICAL INTEGRATED
GARDENING SYSTEM
a) INTRODUCTION
Gardening system is designed for its economic use to the
farmers who cannot afford much cost for the gardening
machines. So we came up with an idea of designing and
fabricating the gardening system with the help of an
existing bicycle which has integrated systems such as
plough, sowing and covering the seed back into the soil.

b) PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION

The principle of operation involves the application of

simple mechanical force to the plough tool which enhances
ploughing of the soil. And the other auxiliary features such
as applying force to the brake handles for controlling the
seed flow.

c) DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

At first, the cycle is taken and its hand bar and the front
wheel are dismantled and the rest of the parts are kept
aside. Then the frame is inverted, the mudguard and carrier
of the rear wheel is removed. Now, the cycle is grounded
by the rear wheel. Plough tool is made from the
construction equipment enabling 3 sharp toes like structure
arranged parallel and welded together by a rod. So that the Figure 2.1 Plough tool
integrated toe pieces make a plough tool which is attached
to the bottom of the frame rod. The seed tray is placed on f) SOWING
the cylindrical frame. A pipe is attached to the tray which
thereby enables the seed flow. Control is provided by simple braking system as
in cycle.
d) WORKING OF THE SYSTEM Brake pivot is attached to the extended frame for
controlling the seed flow.
Initially the tray is loaded with seeds. Then the A small plate is used which has hole in it which
movement is given to the cycle by applying enables the control.
mechanical force to the hand bar. Control is During holding the handle, the plate gives an
provided by simple braking system as in cycle.
open condition to the tube.
Pivot is attached to the extended frame for During releasing the handle, the plate returns to
controlling the seed flow. the normal condition where the tube is closed and
the flow is controlled.
A small plate is used which has hole in it which
enables the control. g) COVERING

During holding the handle, the plate gives an Then the covering is equipped with the shovel like structure
open condition to the tube. which is made of sheet metal and the metallic pipe.

During releasing the handle, the plate returns to

the normal condition where the tube is closed.

e) PLOUGHING

Here the plough tool pierces the soil to undergo plough

where the tool penetrates up to 8.4cm to plough the soil. On
gradual movement of the bicycle, the ploughing action
takes place

Figure 2.2 Design of shovel

 3. FABRICATION

a) WELDING

Welding is a fabrication or sculptural process that joins

materials, usually metals thermoplastics, by causing
coalescence. This is often done by melting the work pieces
and adding a filler material to form a pool of molten
material (the weld pool) that cools to become a strong joint,
with pressure sometimes.

a.1) ARC WELDING

Flux cored arc welding (FCAW or FCA) is an automatic or

automatic arc welding process. FCAW requires a
continuously-fed consumable tubular electrode containing a
flux and a constant voltage or, less commonly, a constant Figure 3.2 Hole being drilled in control plate
current welding power supply. An externally supplied
shielding gas is sometimes used, but often the flux itself is 4. DESIGN CALCULATION
relied upon to generate the necessary protection from the
atmosphere, producing both gaseous protection and liquid a) CALCULATION
slag protecting the weld. The process is widely used in
construction because of its high welding speed and PLOUGH
portability.
SHEAR AREA REQUIRED

Shear Area of the Soil = Area of Plough Tool

Area of One Plough Tool = 0.5 * 2.54 * 8.4 = 10.688 cm2

Area of Total Plough Tool = 10.688 * 3 = 32.004 cm2

Shear Area of the Soil = 32.004 cm2

LOAD APPLIED BY THE PLOUGH

Density of Mild Steel = 7850 kg/m3

Height of the Tool = 8.4 cm

Breadth of the Tool = 2.54 cm

Figure 3.1 Arc welding in plough tool
Thickness of the Tool = 0.8 cm
b) DRILLING
Volume of the Tool = 0.5 * 8.4 * 2.54 * 0.8 * 3
Drilling is a cutting process that uses a drill bit to cut or
enlarge a hole of circular cross-section in solid materials. =0.0000256 m3
The drill bit is a rotary cutting tool, often multipoint. The Load Applied = Density * Volume
bit is pressed against the work piece and rotated at rates
= 0.2 kg = 200 g
from hundreds to thousands of revolutions per minute. This
Load Applied = 0.2 * 10 = 2 N
forces the cutting edge against the work piece, cutting off
chips from the hole as it is drilled. So, Force required = 50 N

PLOUGH TIME

Ploughing speed = 3 km/hr.

To Plough 2400 ft2 (60 * 40),

60 * 12 * 0.0254 = 18.28 m

18.28 * 25 = 457 m

To Plough 457m at a speed of 0.833m/s (3 km/hr.),

It takes 548 seconds = 9.12 minutes.

WHEEL SPECIFICATIONS

Diameter of the Wheel = 0.58 m

Circumference of the Wheel = 1.83 m

No. of Rotations to Plough 2400 ft2,

No. of rotations of Wheel = 457/1.83 = 250 rotations.

SOWING

TRAY DIMENSIONS

Length = 38 cm

Breadth = 20 cm

Height = 14 cm

b) SELECTION OF MATERIALS
Figure 4.2 Cost of materials
Material selection is the major step in the process of
designing any physical object. In the context of the product 5. PHOTOGRAPHY
design, main goal of material selection is to minimize the
cost while meeting performance goal.

Figure 5.1 Completed Structures

Figure 4.1 Selection of materials

c) COST ESTIMATION

The cost estimation is the approximation of a cost of

program, project or operation. The cost estimation is the
product of the cost estimating process. The cost estimated
is a single total value and may have identifiable component
value.

Figure 5.2 Basic Structure

 6. CONCLUSION
In previous types, engine powered or electronically
controlled devices are used. Our fabrication is an easier
way to reduce cost and also simple in construction so that it
will be useful for the unskilled farmers to operate. The
Mechanical Integrated Gardening System used in this
fabrication is integrated to operate which adds one
advantage to the project. Easy handling and easy
transportation improves the user to overcome gardening
barriers. Through this type of changes in gardening system,
the performance of ploughing and sowing is found to
increase. Therefore the result obtained from the project
reduces the time taken and efficiency over the other
gardening equipment.

Figure 5.3 Control Mechanism

7. REFERENCES

[1] "A Brief History of Gardening", by Douglas

Figure 5.4 Control Plate
John.
[2] "The Cottage Garden: How to Plan and Plant
a Garden That Grows Itself, by Collins
& Brown.
[3] "Gardening as a Sacred Art", by Jeremy
Naydler.
[4] "Seed Germination, Theory and Practice", by
Dr. Norman C. Deno.
[5] "Green and Plough Technology", by Thames
and Hudson.
[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gardening.
[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ploughing.
[8] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sowingtechiques.
[9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welding.