• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 2000.11c
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• pp.690-697
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• 2000

The objective of this study is to develop a method that is able to realize autonomous traveling for tractor-like robot on the slope terrain. A neural network (NN) and genetic algorithms (GAs) have been used for resolving nonlinear problems in this system. The NN is applied to create a vehicle simulator that is capable to describe the motion of the tractor robot on the slope, while it is impossible by the common dynamics way. Using this vehicle simulator, a control law optimized by GAs was established and installed in the computer to control the steering wheel of tractor robot. The autonomous traveling carried out on a 14-degree slope had initial successful results.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.287-293
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• 2010

In order to optimize an agricultural tractor clutch mechanism system, its structural static and kinematic mechanism were analyzed. The operating force of the mechanical tractor clutch system is currently not appropriate to drive comfortably. So it is needed to reduce the clutch operating force by applying advanced engineering design techniques. In the present study, an optimization technology is applied to the design of tractor clutch systems to reduce the operating force. As a result of the optimization using 2 link-angles and 1 link-length which are the main design variables of the clutch linkage system, the maximum pushing force of the maximum clutch pedal was found 182.8N, 14% decreased compared to the existing clutch system. The effectiveness of the optimum design is certified by menas of an experiment.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 1993.10a
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• pp.727-733
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• 1993

An attempt was made to mechanize the infield transportation system in a cocoa plantation. A small trailer was designed and fabricated and used with a commercial 2-wheeled walking tractor modified into a 4-wheeled tractor-trailer unit to suit the plantation conditions. The transporter had a capacity of 800 kg and could be loaded with about 1000 cocoa pods at a time and was well within the towing capability of a 10 hp tractor. Time and motion studies were conducted on a 30 acre, 6 year old cocoa plantation intercropped with coconut to compare manual and the tractor-trailer combination in relation to infield transportation. The total time taken to harvest 80 trees manually was computed to be 24 manuhours per hectare whilst the tractor-trailer combination required 18manhours.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 1993.10a
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• pp.1013-1025
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• 1993

Agriculture in Swaziland is the most important sector of the economy from the stand point of export earning, rural employment and dependency for family food. But, inspite of 65.5 percent of the household being busy in food production for family consumption in Swaziland, the import bill of food and live animals is rising from E119.7268 million in 1987/90 (An.St.Bul.1988) . A typical farm size, based on holding's growing crops, is only 1.93 ha which may prohibit owning a four wheel tractor for farm operations. The traditional hand tools are just not efficient and comfortable to operate in order to exploit full potential of the land. There are over 120.000 draught animals which have potential to be utilized in farming. The two wheel-tractor is another energy source which can be used for many farm-operations.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.549-560
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• 1998

The dynamic model of a tractor-trailer system developed in the first part of this paper was verified in this article by comparing the simulated acceleration responses of the system with actually measured ones. A commercially available tractor and a trailer were used for the verification test. Values of the model parameters were measured or theoretically derived if the measurement was practically impossible. The tractor-trailer system was operated with different forward speeds over three equally spaced half-sine bumps on the flat concrete surface. Results of the verification tests showed that autospectra of the measured and simulated accelerations of the tractor-trailer system agreed well up to the frequencies slightly feater than the fundamental frequencies of the ground excitations and at the frequencies of engine excitations. The mean of normalized errors of the simulated responses to the measured ones was estimated to be less than 10% for all the test runs. The peak responses in the autospectra also coincided well both in the frequency and magnitude.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 2002.02a
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• pp.111-117
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• 2002

This paper introduces the experimental results of ride values assessed for a farm tractor. and the effect on the health of rider when working on the tractor is estimated. The dynamic characteristics of suspension seat in the farm tractor also described. To evaluate the ride values the accelerations in the 12-axis of human are measured. The experiment was conducted in three different driving conditions for 4 persons. as a results we can see that the ride quality is very poor and the working in a tractor can causes health problems in a few hours. and the suspension seat does not take a good performance.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.2925-2933
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• 1973

For the efficient utilization of farm machines on the inclined uqland, work performance in plowing, harrowing and terracing and critical workable gradients were tested on three farm machines which are 47 ps-farm tractor, 8 ps-power tiller and 5 ps-power tiller. The results of this study are summarized as follows; 1) The steeper the slope of the upland was the more inefficient the work performance of all machines was. 2) The critical workable gradients of the machines were proved as 14 for 47 ps-farm tractor, 12 for 8 ps-power tiller and 10 for 5ps-power tiller. 3) Plowing in the way of turning the furrow slices against the slope in order to build up terraces, the critical workable gradients were 8 for 47 ps-farm tractor and 8 ps-power tiller and 6 for 5 ps-power tiller. 4) Two-way plow is recommended for plowing with farm tractor on inclined upland, and high lug of tire would be good to prevent the slippage, and side valance-weight should be attached to power tiller for preventing its overturning.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 1993.10a
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• pp.1117-1126
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• 1993

Physical parameters in the forward direction of the tractor , which mainly affects the vibration characteristics of the tractor dynamic model, were able to be identified in a short time by using the Gauss-Newton method with extremum searching based on the data obtained from a forced vibration experiment. It was clarified that a period for the updating of the parameter estimates method has effects on the convergence accuracy of identification for the spring constant in the forward direction of the tractor.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.297-304
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• 2009

This study was conducted to investigate the adequacy of the representative empirical models which are developed for predicting the tractive performance of the tractor operating in various soil conditions. Four representative empirical models which are widely used in the traction prediction of tractor were selected through literature review. Four models were Wismer-Luth, Brixius, Dwyer and Hernandez model, which were empirical traction models of a single wheel. The efficacy of four models were confirmed via comparison of the tractions of tractor predicted using the four models with those measured from traction tests which were conducted for two different driving type (2WD and 4WD) of the tractor on two different soil conditions. The results showed that tractions predicted by Brixius' model, especially for slip range under 20% which the operating efficiency of a tractor is very high, were well consistent with the ones measured from traction test better than the tractions predicted by models which are proposed by Wismer-Luth, Dwyer and Hernandez.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.123-130
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• 2010

A steering control system based on CAN(Controller Area Network) for autonomous tractor was developed to reduce duty of a central processing computer and to improve performance of steering control in terms of reduced control interval and error. The steering control system consisted of a SCU (Steering Control Unit), an EHPS system, and a potentiometer. The SCU consisted of an MCU (Micro Controller unit), an A/D converter, and a DC-DC converter, and a PID controller was used to control steering angle. The steering control system was communicated with the computer by CAN-bus. Each actuator and implement was connected to a multi-function board interfacing with the computer through a USB cable. Without CAN, control interval of the autonomous tractor was 1.5 seconds. When the CAN-based steering control system was combined with the autonomous tractor, however, control interval of the integrated system was reduced to those less than 0.05 seconds. When the autonomous tractor was operated with 1.5-s and 0.05-s control cycles at a 0.63-m/s travelling speed, the trajectories were close to straight lines for both of the control cycles. For a 1.34-m/s traveling speed, tractor trajectory was close to sine wave with a 1.5-s control cycle, but was straight line with a 0.05-s control cycle.