• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.38 no.6
• /
• pp.593-600
• /
• 2014

This paper proposes a torque assist strategy for operating a hybrid agricultural tractor in the field. In general, different field operations such as baling and rotary tillage require different patterns and amounts of torque. Thus, a large agricultural tractor is used to improve the farming efficiency. Therefore, this research has the goal of developing a hybrid tractor that uses a small electric motor to provide additional torque for specific field operations. To achieve this objective, a rule-based torque assist strategy is proposed and validated for a simulation model in the Autonomie framework, which is a commercial simulation tool. Finally, the work efficiencies and fuel consumptions of a conventional tractor and the hybrid tractor with the proposed torque assist strategy are compared using simulations.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
• /
• v.42 no.1
• /
• pp.53-61
• /
• 2015

Development of highly efficient and energy-saving tractors has been one of the issues in agricultural machinery. For design of such tractors, measurement and analysis of load on major power transmission parts of the tractors are the most important pre-requisite tasks. Objective of this study was to perform pre-processing procedures before effective analysis of load data of agricultural tractors (30, 75, and 82 kW) during major field operations such as plow tillage, rotary tillage, baling, bale wrapping, and to select the suitable pre-processing method for the analysis. A load measurement systems, equipped in the tractors, were consisted of strain-gauge, encoder, hydraulic pressure, and radar speed sensors to measure torque and rotational speed levels of transmission input shaft, PTO shaft, and driving axle shafts, pressure of the hydraulic inlet line, and travel speed, respectively. The entire sensor data were collected at a 200-Hz rate. Plow tillage, rotary tillage, baling, wrapping, and loader operations were selected as major field operations of agricultural tractors. Same or different farm works and driving levels were set differently for each of the load measuring experiment. Before load data analysis, pre-processing procedures such as outlier removal, low-pass filtering, and data division were performed. Data beyond the scope of the measuring range of the sensors and the operating range of the power transmission parts were removed. Considering engine and PTO rotational speeds, frequency components greater than 90, 60, and 60 Hz cut off frequencies were low-pass filtered for plow tillage, rotary tillage, and baler operations, respectively. Measured load data were divided into five parts: driving, working, implement up, implement down, and turning. Results of the study would provide useful information for load characteristics of tractors on major field operations.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
• /
• v.30 no.2 s.109
• /
• pp.127-133
• /
• 2005

Precision tillage is designed to till lands variably according to their firmness. Therefore, it is necessary to measure soil firmness in fields and present it in a form with which the variable tillage on be performed. Such forms may be classified into two categories: sensor-based and map-based forms. The map-based approach appears to be inevitable until the technology develops high enough to secure the sensor-based approaches. The first step for map-based precision tillage may be to develop a tillage recommendation map. In this study, a tractor-mountable automatic soil firmness measurement system was developed to construct a cone index map. The system is comprised of three ASAE Standard cone penetrometers and a hydraulic unit for controlling operation of the penetrometers. The system is designed to conduct stop-and-go measurements in fields. The measurements from the three penetrometers are transferred to a microcomputer and the average cone index was calculated. This average cone index was taken as soil firmness of the location where the measurement was made. The cone indices thus determined were used to construct a cone index map using the ArcView software. The system also displays the soil penetration resistance, cone index and soil depth as the cone penetrates into the soil. The field performance of the system was evaluated and the cone index maps at different depths were also presented.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.79-83
• /
• 2009

In this study, actual state of operation of rotary tillage was surveyed in the central part of Korea which includes 29 rural community around Asan city, Choongnam principal. 29 heads of the village and 44 farmers were surveyed at the field with a questionnaire on the operation of rotary tillage with farm tractors. Power requirement of rotary tillage operation was measured at the field of each farmers during rotary tilling operation in the central part of Korea. Summaries of this study are summarized as follows. 1) Operations of tillage and land preparation were found to be carried out with farm tractors by 98 percents which are results of the survey on 29 heads of the village and 44 farmers. 2) More than half of the farms had tractors with horsepower more than 38 kW which states that most tractors were supplied in middle and large size. 3) The case of applying secondary tillage after the first primary tillage were 79 percent among the most of operations of tillage and field preparation. Rotary tillage were carried out on the most of wet paddy fields and only 14 percent of dry fields were cultivated with rotary tillage. 4) 63.6 percent of farm tractors were surveyed to meet the recommended field capacity on tillage operation by the government which were ranged from 15.1 to 34.9 ha. And the field capacity of these farm tractors were greater than that of annual total area of operation field, 13.2ha (data from Information of agricultural machinery, National agricultural products quality service, Korea), which states the utilization of agricultural machinery was high in the area surveyed. 5) 46 percent of farmers changed the blade of rotary implement when they used it over the field capacity of rotary blade of 33 ha which is the area of field for rotary operation per a blade change. 55 percent of farmers changed the rotary blade more than once per two years. 6) The required power for rotary operation of each farm tractors were measured as 17.206 kW at untilled paddy field and 34.989 kW at untilled dry field on the average, respectively. The required power for rotary operation was measured as 28.248 kW on the average at the paddy field which had been plowed once and 28.015 at the paddy field that had rotary tillage operation. Untilled dry field showed the highest value of the required power for rotary operation.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
• /
• v.23 no.5
• /
• pp.427-438
• /
• 1998

In Korea, rotary implements are mainly utilized in the tillage operation. The attitude control system for rolling phenominon of tractors, which in caused due to uneven ground surfaces and sinkage of tractor wheels, is one of the most important control systems in agricultural tractors. The attitude control system of a rotary implement, attached on tractors, was designed and fabricated in this study. The control system was largely composed of four main units; a setting unit, a detection unit, a controller and a hydraulic unit. The implement was controlled by control signals from a computer proportional to controlled errors, on/off action of two directional solenoide valve and lift cylinder on the right lift rod. Response characteristic experiments for the control system fabricated in this study were carried out indoors and outdoors. The results of experiments showed the response characteristics sufficient to use as the attitude control system of rotary implements for agricultural tractors.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.45-53
• /
• 2017

Disc harrow-type composite working implements of tractors are able to work almost 15km/hr. Soil reversing and plowing of agricultural fields are thereby faster than the existing rotavator speed of 2.5 km/h. In Korea, its supply process is being delayed because of the traditional tillage method of rotavator plowing operations. To develop products suitable for the domestic environment, an analysis and inspection was performed on the products of advanced specifications. 3D modeling was performed on main parts and frames using 3D scanner.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.118-123
• /
• 1991

This study was conducted to investigate the influences of virtual hitch point (VHP) positions of a three-point hitch on the steering stability of agricultural tractors. The VHP locations were determined analytically from the linkage geometry and implement posture during the normal tillage operations. The maximum force applicable to the VHP was also determined under the given soil and power constraints. From these possible ranges of the VHP locations, a safe region for steering control was determined theoretically by using maximum applicable forces for the given tractor and implement combinations. With VHP positions within the safe region, tractor can maintain the minimum soil reaction forces, assumed 20% of the total tractor weight in this study, at the front wheels which is required for the steering control under the maximum traction conditions. This paper mainly concerns with mathematical developments for the determination of VHP locations and maximum forces applicable to the VHP for steering control. Experimental validation of the theory developed here follows as the second part of this study.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.391-400
• /
• 1997

Using the soil bin systems, this study was carried out to investigate the tilling load characteristic for the three kinds of Japanese rotary blade and the possibility of common use for power tiller and tractor rotary. The results obtained from the study are summarized as follows : 1. At all tested soils. the average and maximum tilling torque of all tested blades increased as the tillage pitch did. 2. The torque requirements of newly designed and produced blade was less than that of blade which has been used on power tiller and tractor rotary. 3. The maximum tilling torque of new ONE were decreased 7%, 10~11％, 27% in comparing with another blades at clay loam, loam and sandy loam, respectively. 4. According to observation of the extent of soil adhesion on blade and the contact aspect of blade, new ONE is the most excellent of all tested rotary blades and till smoothly not to compress the untilled soil. From the results of this study. the newly developed blade(new ONE) proved to be good tilling load performance and had a conclusion that it is possible to use it on power tiller and tractor rotary in common.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
• /
• v.38 no.2
• /
• pp.73-80
• /
• 2013

Purpose: This study was conducted to compare tillage and loads characteristics of three types of rotavators in farmland working condition of Korea. Methods: Tillage operations using three types of rotavators, i.e. rotary-type, crank-type and plow-type, were carried out in a dry field of Korea. The same prime mover tractor was used for driving three types of rotavators, and under several operational conditions, tillage characteristics such as actual working speed, rotavating depth, rotavating width, actual field capacity, flow of tilled soil, soil inversion ratio, and pulverizing ratio were measured. In addition, loads characteristics like torque and required power of Power Take-Off (PTO) shaft were calculated. Results: The average rotavating depth was smaller than the nominal value for all rotavators, and the difference was the greatest in the plow-type rotavator. Nevertheless, the plow-type rotavator showed the largest rotavating depth. The rotavating width was the same as the nominal value of all rotavators. The flow of tilled soil at the same operational conditions was the greatest in the plow-type rotavator and was the smallest in the rotary-type rotavator. In the most commonly used gear conditions of L2 and L3, the average soil pulverizing ratio was the greatest in the rotary-type rotavator, and followed by crank-type and plow-type rotavators in order. In the gear L2 and L3, the plow-type rotavator also had the lowest average soil inversion ratio while the rotary-type and crank-type rotavators had the same soil inversion ratio each other. The average torque and power of PTO shaft in the gear L2 and L3 were the highest in the plow-type rotavator. The load spectra of PTO shaft applying rain flow counting method and Smith-Waston-Topper equation to the measured torque showed that the modified torque amplitude was the greatest in the crank-type rotavator. This may come from the large torque fluctuation of crank-type rotavator during tillage operations. Conclusions: The three types of rotavators had different tillage and loads characteristics. The plow-type rotavator had the deepest rotavating depth, the smallest soil inversion ratio, the largest soil pulverizing ratio and required PTO power. Also, the crank-type rotavator showed a large torque fluctuation because of their unique operational mechanism. This study will help the farmers choose a suitable type of rotavator for effective tillage operations.

• Journal of Drive and Control
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.133-140
• /
• 2020

Traction performance of a tractor varies depending on soil conditions. Sinkage and slip of the driving wheel for tractor frequently occur in a reclaimed land. The objective of this study was to develop a tractor suitable for a reclaimed land. Traction performance was evaluated according to soil conditions of reclaimed land and paddy field. Field experiments were conducted at two test sites (Fields A: paddy field; and Field B: reclaimed land). The tractor load measurement system was composed of an axle rotation speed sensor, a torque meter, a six-component load cell, GPS, and a DAQ (Data Acquisition System). Soil properties including soil texture, water content, cone index, and electrical conductivity (EC) were measured. Referring to previous researches, the tractor traveling speed was set to B3 (7.05 km/h), which was frequently used in ridge plow tillage. Soil moisture contents were 33.2% and 48.6% in fields A and B, respectively. Cone index was 2.1 times higher in field A than in field B. When working in the reclaimed land, slip ratios were about 10.5% and 33.1% for fields A and B, respectively. The engine load was used almost 100% of all tractors under the two field conditions. Traction powers were 31.9 kW and 24.2 kW for fields A and B, respectively. Tractive efficiencies were 83.3% and 54.4% for fields A and B, respectively. As soil moisture increased by 16.4%, the tractive efficiency was lowered by about 28.9%. Traction performance of tractor was significantly different according to soil conditions of fields A and B. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the traction performance of tractor for smooth operations in all soil conditions including a reclaimed land by reflecting data of this study.