Abstract
This study is aimed at investigating the effect of various tractor ride conditions on the lumbar spine during rotavator operation. The lumbar spinal response was assessed by determining static compressive dose, i.e., Sed (8). Raw acceleration data were measured on the seat pan and seat backrest to varying tractor velocity, tillage depth, and pulling force. The field experiments have been designed using Taguchi’s L9 orthogonal array and the entire data analyzed in signal-to-noise ratios terms. The mean acceleration responses were dominant along the vertical axis and exposure levels were found beyond the exposure action value, i.e., 0.5 m/s2 as per Directive 2002/44/EU. Mean Sed (8) exceeded the limits of ISO 2631-5 indicating the probability of adverse health effects. Tractor velocity and pulling force have a significant impact on Sed (8) with a 64.43% and 27.73% percentage contribution. The FFT dominant peaks have been found in the 0.8 to 3.7 Hz frequency range. Moreover, the exact frequency of the peaks is found to be dependent on the experimental circumstances. The depicted dominant frequencies found in the range of low frequencies could lead to musculoskeletal disorders since they coincide with the natural frequencies of various parts of the body, especially in the lumbar region.
Highlights
Vibration occurs in every vehicle which mainly arises due to the tire-terrain interactions. e magnitude of vibration largely depends on the various vehicle ride conditions along with the terrain conditions [1]. e technological developments overcame the vibration exposure among on-road vehicle drivers/passengers up to a considerable extent whereas the designers and manufacturers are devoting substantial efforts to limit vibration exposure among offroad vehicles such as tractors
The increase in population has raised the demand for crop productivity and this makes the farmers use mechanized machinery to speed up the crop sowing and harvesting time [3]. e window period between crops is required to be as shorter as possible to save field processing time [4]. is includes using advanced machinery to prepare the soil bed for future crop sowing later on during ground tillage operations
Each farm travels through different periods of primary and secondary soil tillage to manipulate the soil to get optimum sowing conditions. ere are many tillage implements available such as disc harrow, cultivator, mouldboard plough, shovels, and leveller
Summary
Vibration occurs in every vehicle which mainly arises due to the tire-terrain interactions. e magnitude of vibration largely depends on the various vehicle ride conditions along with the terrain conditions [1]. e technological developments overcame the vibration exposure among on-road vehicle drivers/passengers up to a considerable extent whereas the designers and manufacturers are devoting substantial efforts to limit vibration exposure among offroad vehicles such as tractors. Rotavator has been capable of performing both the tillage operation as carried out using harrow and cultivator, thereby used a replacement of these tillers during field preparation. This implement has been found very time-saving in cutting the stubbles and clods of hard soil formed after the harvesting of paddy crops. E literature reveals that the past studies had mainly investigated the vibration exposure considering disc harrow [19] and mouldboard plough [20] as tractor attached implements. The present study attempted to investigate the impact of various tractor ride conditions (i.e., tractor velocity, tillage depth, and pulling force) on the driver’s lumbar spine during rotavator operation. It has been hypothesized that riding conditions, i.e., tractor velocity, tillage depth, and pulling force, will have a significant impact on Sed (8)
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