Abstract: Drip irrigation technology, as a core method of high efficiency water-saving irrigation, has become a vital support for sustainable agricultural development in arid and semi-arid regions due to its high water resource utilization rate and significant crop yield increase effects. Subsurface shallow burial installation delivers water and fertilizers directly to crop root zones, not only minimizing water evaporation losses but also keeping the surface soil dry, thereby effectively suppressing the growth of pests, diseases, and weeds. The subsurface shallow burial installation of drip tape typically involves processes such as trenching, belt laying, and soil covering. Among these, the trenching and shallow burial stage directly affects the burial depth accuracy and installation quality of the drip tape. To address issues such as unstable trenching depth, the need for manual fixation of the free end of the drip tape during initial installation, and belt slack during emergency braking, a self-braking trenching and shallow burial device for drip tape has been designed. This device primarily consists of a contour-following trenching and shallow burial mechanism, a drip tape guidance mechanism, a drip tape clamping mechanism, a drip tape roller, a braking mechanism, and a tape press-down mechanism. It integrates functions such as stable trenching, automatic belt pressing, and self-braking. The contour-following trenching and shallow burial mechanism enables precise control of the drip tape burial depth through a sliding blade-type furrow opener and a parallelogram profiling structure. The tape press-down mechanism effectively restrains displacement of the free end of the drip tape using an elastic compaction wheel. The braking mechanism utilizes the coordination between a brake rod and a brake wheel to prevent slack in the drip tape during emergency braking. The contour-following trenching and shallow burial mechanism was rationally designed, featuring a sliding blade-type furrow opener with a 45° sliding-cutting angle and a 45° blade edge angle, along with a parallelogram profiling mechanism having a profiling range of 93.78 mm. For the tape press-down mechanism, the tension spring parameters were designed based on the required tension range of 242.94～488.70 N. In the braking mechanism, the tension range of the brake tension spring was calculated to be 44.89～67.35 N based on the drip tape's tensile force. The results of the soil bin performance tests showed that at different operating velocities, the average burial depth of the drip tape ranged from 37.4 to 48.1 mm, with a burial depth stability coefficient exceeding 94%, meeting relevant agronomic standards. The displacement of the drip tape at various velocities was less than 1 000 mm, confirming that the tape press-down mechanism effectively secured the drip tape without requiring manual fixation. The well-designed tension spring parameters enabled the friction rubber pad to quickly engage with the brake wheel during emergency braking, effectively suppressing inertial slack. At an operating velocity of 6 km/h, a tension spring force of 55 N or higher achieved satisfactory braking performance. When the tension spring force was set to 60 N, the post-braking slack of the drip irrigation belt was significantly reduced from 8 674.6 mm (without the braking mechanism) to 32.4 mm, representing a reduction of over 99%. This study provides theoretical foundations and technical support for promoting the shallow burial installation method of drip tape and optimizing the design of related equipment.