Effect of blade type on power requirement and puddling quality of a rotavator in wet clay soil

Abstract

The effect of type of blades on power requirement of a tractor drawn rotary cultivator during puddling in Bangkok clay soil was investigated, For this purpose, 'C'-shaped, 'L'-shaped and a combination of 'C' and 'L' blades called 'C-L' blades were used. The PTO torque was measured by a PTO drive torque transducer and the power consumed was calculated for each blade attachment. The puddling quality was assessed in terms of percentage reduction in bulk density and puddling index. Tests were conducted at different forward speeds of 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 km/h. To study the effect of passes, three rotavator passes were given. It was observed that 'C'-shaped blades consumed less power than 'L' and 'C-L' blade attachments at any forward speed and pass. The 'L' blade attachment required 33%, 24% and 14%, while the 'C-L' blade attachment required 14%, 12% and 4% higher power than the 'C' blade attachment during the pass 1 at 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 km/h forward speeds, respectively. The power consumed decreased at higher passes. For all blades, power during the 1st pass was higher than the other two passes. For the 'C' blade, the per cent reduction in bulk density and the puddling index was higher compared to the per cent reduction in bulk density and puddling index obtained with 'L' and 'C-L' blade rotavators. In general, the 'C' blade performed better than the other two types investigated in this study.