Effect of operational parameter on tractor-implement system’s performance

Abstract

The main objective of this research was to study the effect of operational parameters like operational speed and tillage depth on performance of tractor-implement system. Three levels of engine RPM (1000, 1500 and 2000), three levels of gear selection (L3, L4 and H1) and three levels of tillage depth (7, 10 and 13 cm) were selected and their effects on draft force and wheel slip were investigated. A full factorial experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The experiment data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA). The draft force and wheel slip varied from 274.25 to 570.30 kg and from 11.37% to 39.22% respectively in case of 9-tyne cultivator. The developed draft monitoring system were very accurate and validated with calibrated spring balance (R2 = 0.99). The developed slip monitoring system were very precise (96.64%) with respect to manually measured slip. As the operational speed and tillage depth increases, continuous increase in draft and wheel slip was observed for cultivator, disc harrow and bund former. The statistical analysis of the experiment data indicates that tractor speed and tillage depth significantly (p<0.01) affected the draft force and wheel slip of the tractor-implement combinations.