Experimental apparatus to determine the power applied in vibrating vertical tillage

Abstract

The aim of this work was to evaluate an alternative to reduce energy consumption applied to primary agricultural soil tillage. It was designed, built and instrumented an apparatus to evaluate the operation of vibration induced tillage equipment. The components that integrated the system for field valuation were: frame tool carrier that includes a system of three-point hitch and depth control mechanism; three sensors included were one to measure tillage force, other for torque and another one to measure the frequency of the subsoiler rudder oscillation. Oscillatory impact force is applied through a rod and crank mechanism through a subsoiler rudder whose movement is provided by a hydraulic motor. The apparatus evaluation is complemented by a system of data acquisition and signal conditioning that allows the registration of the variables of interest such as draft power, penetration force, the applied torque and speed of oscillation of the system. The results of the calibration of the sensors show a system correlation higher than 95%. The results observed during field system verification at different speed, amplitude and depth of tillage was observed which can reduce the pulling force of up to 50 % using the oscillated induced tillage compared to the non-vibrating condition. In addition, was found that there is a significant increase in the magnitude of the pulling force and torque applied by 33 % when the working depth increased from 0.30 to 0.40 m. Besides an increase of 21% of draft force was produced when the amplitude of oscillation was reduced from 0.070 to 0.060 m. No significant difference was found when the tractor speed was increased from 1.5 to 2.5 km/h.