Abstract: (37439 Views)
In this study tractive efficiency (TE) of MF285 and U650 tractors during moldboard plowing were evaluated and compared. Field experiments were conducted at the Experimental Station, College of Agriculture, Shiraz University, using a randomized complete block design with a 3*3 factorial. The soil was sandy clay loam with an average moisture content of 18% b.d. from zero to 30 cm depth. Test treatments were combinations of three tractor types or conditions (U650, MF285 liquid ballasted and MF285 with no liquid or weight ballast) and three levels of plowing depth (10-15 cm, 15-20 cm and 20-25 cm). Plowing speed was kept constant at about 4 km/h throughout the experiment. The measured or calculated parameters included: tractor drawbar pull and rolling resistance, drive wheel slip and tractor tractive efficiency. Statistical analysis of the test results showed that the primary difference between the tractor types or conditions was in their wheel slip, such that the average wheel slip of U650 was lowest (12.6%) while that of unballasted MF285 was highest (27%) and was reduced to 17.7% with liquid ballasting. Also, while growth of unballasted MF285 wheel slip with increasing plowing depth was drastically high (11% to 48%), that of U650 was quite moderate (9.7% to 16.5%). Analysis of the calculated values of TE showed that there was no significant changes in the TE of U650 with increasing plowing depth and that with an average of 73.8%, it had a desirable performance. The TE of unballasted MF285 that was over 75% at shallow plowing, dropped to 46% with increasing plowing depth, while water ballasting improved the decreasing trend of TE with plowing depth and raised its minimum value to about 63%. The overall results of this study showed that unballasted MF285 tractors had desirable TE only at shallow plowing and that for medium and deep plowing, U650 or water ballasted MF285 tractors should be used.
Type of Study:
Research |
Subject:
Ggeneral Received: 2008/01/9 | Published: 2002/07/15