• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.273-282
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• 2002

This study was intended to measure and analyze hand-transmitted vibrations from cultivator in idle and operation modes for three different types of field works. Based on this analysis a time for the white finger syndrome to appear on 10% of the operators was estimated assuming that their daily exposure is 3 hours. The 4 methods to reduce the hand vibration were also proposed and compared with each other. The results of the study were summarized as follows : The highest vibration level was recorded during trenching operation, resulting in a total average vibration of 11.5 m/s$^2$. Followings were 7.6 m/s$^2$ during rotary tillage and 7.0 m/s$^2$ for weeding. When exposed to these levels of vibrations three hours a day, the white finger syndrome is likely to appear in 4 years for trenching, 6.2 years for rotary tillage and 6.8 years for weeding operations. Isolation of hand vibration performed by a rubber pad, anti-vibration gloves, a handle anti-vibration device and engine mounts were respectively 15.7%, 16.5%. 26.1% and 27.0%, resulting in most effective methods of the handle anti-vibration device and engine mounts. A better performance of about 33.9% was achieved when both the handle anti-vibration device and engine mounts were used.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.126-132
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• 1978

This study was carried out through the survey questionaries in order to get the information for proper operating technique of the two-wheel tractors which are widely used in the farm, and investigated various accidents which occurred during the operation of two-wheel tractors for farm works in 7 Provinces of Korea. The summarized results are as follows ; 1. Annual accident frequency of the two-wheel tractor was 2.07 times, and the average rate of accident was 0.72 times per hour. Its value was the largest in the pre-operations , and the smallest in the threshing operation. 2. The accident distribution according to each month was nearly propertional to the operating hours of the two-wheel tractor. More than 60 % of total accident was concentrated during the rice transplanting and harvesting season. 3. The careless accident was more than 50% of total accident , and inevitable accident about 18% . The rate of careless accident showed the highest in pre-operation such as engine starting, check, and adjustment, and belt change. 4. The serious wounded operator was 7.1 % to total wounded operator , and about 50 % of accident of casualties to operators occurred during haruling operations. 5. The amount of casualties to property was range of 1,000 to 10,000 won, and annual total amount per unit tractor could be estimated to be 10 , 000 won.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.153-159
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• 2007

This study was conducted to measure and analyze the noise from a combine head. The combine head, comprised of a cutting knife assembly, pick-up chains, horizontally conveying chains and vertically conveying chains, had an overall sound level of 101 dBA. The sound levels of each component were, respectively, 98.3 dBA for the cutting knife assembly, 88.9 dBA for the pick-up chains, 79.8 dBA for the horizontally conveying chains and 86.3 dBA for the vertically conveying chains, being equivalent to 54.4%, 18.4%, 6.5% and 13.7% of the overall head noise. The main cause of the head noise was considered the impacts that the joint of the cutting knife assembly made with frame when it oscillated. The impact sound was also generated when the chain lug collided with the chain case. To reduce these impact sound, anti-vibration rubbers were installed on the knife assembly joint and the chain cases. It reduced the head noise by 4 dBA but the overall noise level of the combine head was still high. In order to protect the combine operators more effectively from the noise, a safety cab needs to be installed on the combine.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.226-235
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• 1995

An unmanned speed sprayer was developed using a remote control and an inductive cable guidance systems to protect operators and environment from hazardous pesticides. The sprayer consists of a remote control system, an induction system, obstacle detectors, control actuators and an one-chip microcomputer. The sprayer can be operated by the induction guidance and/or remote control. The following summarize characteristics of the developed speed sprayer. 1) Both the remote control and the induction guidance operation were possible with the developed speed sprayer. 2) Sixteen functions of the forwarding, backing, halting, steering, 3-way valve for nozzles and fan operating etc. were utilized on the remote control system. 3) It was concluded that the DTMF method, having less transmitting error, performed better than the FSK method for an agricultural remote controller. A radio station may be necessary. 4) The digital inductive guidance system, consisting of five low-impedance detection coils and a window comparator circuit, performed better than the analog detecting system, guiding route using inductive voltage differential from tow detection coils.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.120-126
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• 2009

The purpose of this study was to develop a visibility evaluation system for cabin type combine. Human's field of view was classified into five levels (perceptive, effective, stable gaze, induced, and auxiliary) depending on rotation of human's head and eye. Divider, reaper lever, gearshift, dashboard, and conveying part were considered as major viewpoints of combine. Visibilities of combine was evaluated quantitatively using the viewpoints and the human's field of view levels. The visibility evaluation system for cabin type combine was consisted of a laser pointer, stepping motors to control the direction of view, gyro sensors to measure horizontal and vertical angle, and I/O interface to acquire the signals. Tests were conducted with different postures ('sitting straight', 'sitting with $15^{\circ}$ tilt', 'standing straight', and 'standing with $15^{\circ}$ tilt'). The LSD (least significant difference) multiple comparison tests showed that the visibilities of viewpoints were different significantly as the operator's postures were changed. The results showed that the posture at standing with $15^{\circ}$ tilt provided the best visibility for operators. The divider of the combine was invisible due to blocking with the cabin frame at many postures. The reaper lever showed good visibilities at the postures of sitting or standing with $15^{\circ}$ tilt. The gearshift, the dashboard, and the conveying part had reasonable visibilities at the posture of sitting with $15^{\circ}$ tilt. However, most viewpoints of the combine were out of the stable gaze field of view level. Modifications of the combine design will be required to enhance the visibility during harvesting operation for farmers' safety and convenience.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.20-32
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• 1982

This survey was conducted to investigate the present status of farm tractor utilization for obtaining a basic reference to the establishment of the government's agricultural mechanization strategies. Thirty two counties from the eight provinces except Jeju were covered in this study. From these selected areas, 433 sample farms having farm tractor were taken to obtain the general informations by the enquete, and 93 sample farms among them to investigate the status of daily tractor use in the year of 1980. The analyzed results are summarized as follows: 1. Farm tractors owned by the rice-oriented farms holds 71.5 percent of the total number of tractors the livestock-oriented farms 17.0 percent, and the orchard-oriented farms 7.0 percent. Among the farm tractors 64.3 percent was a large size (46ps) and 35.7 percent a small size(19~23ps). 2. Most of the tractors surveyed were equipped with the essential attachments such as plow and rotavator. About 18 percent of the tractor owners had no trailer, which seemed too high considering the large percentage of tractor use for transportation. The availability of other attachments was very low except a grader on the rice-oriented farms and a hay harvester and a front loader on the livestock-oriented farms. 3. The average size of farm was 3.9 hectare for the rice-oriented farms, 13.9 hectare for the livestock-oriented farms and 7.4 hectare for the orchard-oriented farms. It was obious that the average farm size of was too small compared to the theoretical machine capacity of the tractors. 4. About 70 percent of the tractor operators were in the age of twenties and thirties. About 90 percent of them had an educational level of middle school graduate or above even though their technical level was very low. 5. Any particular problem in tractor use was not found in this survey. From the farmer's preference for purchasing a new tractor, however, it is estimated the demand on a 20-30ps tractor will be more increased. 6. The average annual use of tractor was of about 100 days or 400 hours. It appeared that the rice-oriented farms used most with 412.4 hours per year, and followed by the livestock-oriented farms with 403.6 hours, the orchard oriented farms with 377.7 hours. 7. Among the total hours of tractor use, 47.3 percent was for transportation, and 41.6 percent was for plowing and rotary tillage. The largest portion of the annual tractor use was taken by transportation on the livestock-oriented farms, by land preperation on the rice-oriented farms, and by loading and chemical spraying on the orchard-oriented farms. 8. The hours of tractor use had a peak in May. The hours of use for own farm was remarkably different among the different farm oriented, but there was no considerable difference between the too different sizes of tractor. 9. The hours of tractor use decreased as the age of the operator or the educational level increased. The reason might be that the operators who had a high educational level or were older had a tendency of disliking custom works. 10. The average custom use of tractor was 171.3 hours per year, and the ratio of custom work was 63.7 percent on the rice-oriented farms, 31.7 percent on the livestock-oriented farms and 22.4 percent on the orchard-oriented farms. Among the custom works, the most popular one was the grader leveling. 11. The charge on custom work was about 40,000 Won per hectare for plowing and rotary tillage, and it was the most expensive in the southeastern region, and next followed by the southwestern region. 12. The average plowing capacity of the small tractor was 7.8 hours per hectare in the paddy field, and that of the large tractors was 4.3 hours per hectare. The average rotary-tilling capacities of the small and the large tractors were 6.5 and 4.3 hours per hectare, in the paddy field respectively.