Tillage Resistance Research Articles

DEM simulation of subsoiling in tropical sugarcane fields: Effects of opposing subsoiler design and model parameters

During the subsoiling operation of clayey soil in sugarcane fields in tropical areas, there are key limitations such as high resistance caused by high adhesion and unsatisfactory subsoiling effects of machines and tools. To address these issues, this study first explored the machine's structural characteristics using a mechanism analysis method to identify key optimization parameters. Then, simulation tests were conducted based on the root-soil complex model. Single factor analysis was conducted to evaluate the effects of backsweep angle, plow spacing, and penetration angle on tillage resistance and soil disturbance, determining their optimal ranges. Finally, a multi-factor orthogonal rotation combination experiment was designed using Box-Behnken theory to optimize the subsoiler's structural parameters. The regression analysis results show that the optimized model significantly improves the reliability of simulation results. Field verification test results show that under the conditions of a sweep angle of 50°, a plow spacing of 60 cm, and a soil penetration angle of 45°, the average tillage resistance of subsoiling operations is significantly reduced to 76.2 kN, and the amount of soil disturbance is reduced to 1780cm². The optimization reduced tillage resistance and soil disturbance by 34.42% and 30.50% respectively, significantly improving the subsoiling performance. To our knowledge, this is the first work applying discrete element methods to subsoiling operations in red clay soils in sugarcane growing areas. The proposed machine structure has higher efficiency and better performance, providing an effective reference for the design and application of sugarcane field subsoiling machinery.

Recent Advances in Biomimetic Methods for Tillage Resistance Reduction in Agricultural Soil-Engaging Tools

The high tillage resistance of agricultural soil-engaging tools (TASTs) in farmland operations (e.g., tillage, sowing, crop management, and harvesting) increases fuel consumption and harmful gas emissions, which negatively affect the development of sustainable agriculture. Biomimetic methods are promising and effective technologies for reducing the TASTs and have been developed in the past few years. This review comprehensively summarizes the typical agricultural soil-engaging tools (ASETs) and their characteristics and presents existing biomimetic methods for decreasing TASTs. The introduction of TAST reduction was performed on aspects of tillage, sowing, crop management, and harvesting. The internal mechanisms and possible limitations of current biomimetic methods for various ASETs were investigated. The tillage resistance reduction rates of ASETs, as affected by various biomimetic methods, were quantitatively compared under different soil conditions with statistical analyses. Additionally, three future research directions were recommended in the review to further reduce TASTs and encourage the development of sustainable agriculture.

Imitating pangolin scale structure for reducing adhesion and resistance of rotary tillage in wet-adhesive soil

The bionic design of soil-engaging components has recently received much attention in conservation tillage and is extremely important for reducing tillage resistance and increasing implement passability in wet-adhesive rice paddy soil. In this paper, to reduce adhesion and resistance of rotary tillage in wet-adhesive soil, a novel imitating pangolin scale structure is first proposed, and the bionic non-smooth surface parameters affecting the soil adhesion effect is clarified. Afterwards, based on the JKR attached Bonding contact model, an accurate discrete element interaction model of the designed rotary tillage blade -wet adhesive soil is established, and the effect of spindle speed, bump size and bump distance on the tillage resistance and soil disturbance is analyzed using the proposed model. Finally, the proposed imitating pangolin scale structure is optimized to improve the anti-adhesive and drag reduction properties using response surface method, furthermore, the corresponding model validation experiments and field tests are also conducted. Results reveal that the relative errors between the simulated and experimental values of the bionic blade rotary torque and soil adhesion mass are only respectively 4.4 % and 8.3 %. In addition, the optimal parameter combinations of anti-adhesion and drag reduction are also determined: the spindle speed is 180 rpm, the bump width is 10.6 mm and the bump distance is 17.9 mm, respectively, at the time, the effect of soil breaking of the designed blade is reduced by 9.95 % compared to that of the traditional blades but the effect of anti-adhesion and drag reduction is improved by 18.81 %.

Investigation on tillage resistance and soil disturbance in wet adhesive soil using discrete element method with three-layer soil-plough coupling model

To reveal the interaction between plough and wet adhesive soil, it's essential to establish an accurate coupling model of the soil-plough system. Traditional Edinburgh elasto-plastic adhesive contact model neglects the adhesion effect when two interactive particles are separated, leading to lower simulation accuracy. Here, an improved contact model of wet adhesive soil by introducing the adhesive force is proposed. Then a novel discrete element model of a three-layer soil-plough coupling system is established, where the liquid bridge force and the adhesion effect are considered. Furthermore, the corresponding soil bin tests are also conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model. Finally, the effect of soil adhesion, ploughing speeds and ploughing depths on the tillage resistance and soil disturbance is analyzed. Results show that the prediction accuracy of the proposed model increases by about 7%, moreover, the soil disturbed area decreases, while the tillage resistance increases with increasing soil adhesion.

Mesoscopic analysis of drag reduction performance of bionic furrow opener based on the discrete element method.

In order to study the dynamic interface mechanical behavior between soil and agricultural machinery and reveal the causes of tillage resistance, three kinds of bionic furrow opener were designed according to the characteristics of earthworm head surface curve, using the discrete element method to simulate and analyze the process of the furrow openers. The results showed that the order of ditching resistance from large to small is traditional opener, bionic corrugated opener, bionic ridgeline opener, bionic composite opener. With the same ditching speed, the drag reduction effect of the three bionic openers increases with the increase of the ditching depth. During the process of increasing the depth from 30 mm to 60 mm and 90 mm, the ditching resistance of the traditional opener increased from 11.56 N to 28.32 N and 48.61 N as well as the maximum drag reduction ratio increased from 5.58% to 7.20% and 8.93% for the bionic composite opener. With the same ditching depth, the bionic composite opener reached the highest drag reduction rate of all bionic openers when the speed is 100 mm/s, the value is 9.08%. The width of the ditch of the three bionic openers is smaller than that of the traditional opener. Bionic corrugated opener can improve the ditch height and reduce the ditch width,the corrugated structure creates a gap between the surface of the core and the particles, reducing the number of contact and contact area of the particles. The number of contact particles of the three bionic openers is smaller than that of the traditional opener. The bionic composite opener has the smallest force field and the soil disturbance caused by the core share surface is small, the soil is evenly distributed along the core surface. The discrete element simulation shows that the bionic opener can effectively reduce the ditching resistance and improve the quality of ditching, which provides a theoretical basis for subsequent research and optimization.

Vibration Response of Soil under Low-Frequency Vibration Using the Discrete Element Method

The vibration response of soil is a key property in the field of agricultural soil tillage. Vibration components of tillage machinery are generally used to reduce tillage resistance and improve work efficiency, and the pressure variation under low-frequency vibration will affect the fragmentation and dispersion of farmland soil. However, the gradient of pressure variation, frequency domain response, and effective transmission range is unclear. A new method based on the DEM (discrete element method) is presented to study the vibration response and pressure transmission under low-frequency vibration. Bench test results have shown that peak pressure positively correlates with the vibration frequency and attenuates rapidly at a vibration distance of 100 to 250 mm. The resulting data were also selected to determine the simulation model’s parameters. Amplitude, vibration frequency, and soil depth were used as test factors in single-factor simulation tests, and their effects on the peak pressure, frequency domain response, and effective transmission distance were analyzed. The results showed a positive relationship between the peak pressure and the test factors. The peak pressure increased with a maximum gradient of 19.02 kPa/mm at a vibration distance of 50 mm. The amplitude, vibration frequency, and soil depth positively correlated with the dominant frequency amplitude. The main frequency was independent of amplitude and soil depth. At a vibration distance of 250 mm, the dominant frequency was approximately twice the vibration frequency at 7–11 Hz and approximately equal to the vibration frequency at 13–15 Hz. Multiple exponential functions were used to fit the peak pressure attenuation function, obtaining an effective transmission distance range of 347.15 to 550.37 mm for the 5 kPa cut-off pressure. For a soil depth of 300 mm, the vertical shear wave diffusion angle was greater than the horizontal shear wave diffusion angle. This study clarifies the vibration response of soil under low-frequency vibration, which helps to design vibration-type, soil-engaging components of tillage machinery and match vibration parameters for energy-saving and resistance reduction purposes in soil tillage.

Parameter Optimization and DEM Simulation of Bionic Sweep with Lower Abrasive Wear Characteristics.

High wear rates during the tillage process often result in significant financial losses and wasted farming seasons. In this paper, a bionic design was used to reduce tillage wear. Inspired by wear-resistant animals with ribbed structures, the bionic ribbed sweep (BRS) was designed by combining a ribbed unit with a conventional sweep (CS). BRSs with different parameters (width φ, height h, angle θ, and interval λ) were simulated and optimized using the DEM and RSM methods at a working depth of 60 mm to evaluate the magnitude and trends of three responses: tillage resistance (TR), number of contacts between the sweep and soil particles (CNSP), and Archard wear value (AW). The results showed that a protective layer could be created on the surface of the sweep with a ribbed structure to reduce abrasive wear. Analysis of variance proved that factors φ, θ, and λ had significant effects on AW, CNSP, and TR, while factor h was insignificant. An optimal solution was obtained using the desirability method, including 8.88 mm φ, 1.05 mm h, 3.01 mm λ, and 34.46° θ. Wear tests and simulations showed that wear loss could be effectively reduced at different speeds by the optimized BRS. It was found to be feasible to create a protective layer to reduce partial wear by optimizing the parameters of the ribbed unit.

A mathematical model for predicting the draft force of shank-type tillage tine in a compacted sandy loam

Soil tillage resistance poses an ongoing challenge to researchers and designers. This article aims to provide a prediction method for the resistance of soil to failure created by the shank-type tillage tine with chamfers. Prediction functions expressed using the soil shear strength (τ), unconfined compression strength (σ), friction coefficient (μ), cutting angle (γ), and soil-tool interface area (A) were constructed. Validation experiments were conducted in a soil bin by using a test bench which moved the tine through the soil. Six shank-type narrow tillage tines with different geometrical structure parameters were designed, and operated in a compacted sandy loam using various tillage working depths. The results revealed that the draft force prediction model successfully predicted the draft force with the prediction accuracy of 39–92%. The experimental data showed that exponential function relationships exist between the draft force, working depth, and soil-tine interface area, with the coefficients of determination R2 exceeding 0.97. The draft force increased linearly with the rake angle and tine thickness. Prediction models well described the changing tendency of the draft force with the geometrical structure parameters and working depth. We suggest further research on the soil failure mechanism caused by the shank-type tillage tine with chamfers and related soil disturbance to improve the prediction accuracy, and the applicability in different types of soil.

Effects of self-healing biomimetic subsoiler on tillage resistance, wear-corrosion performance and soil disturbance morphology under different soil types

Effects of self-healing biomimetic subsoiler on tillage resistance, wear-corrosion performance and soil disturbance morphology under different soil types

Reduction in Energy Consumption by Mitigation of Cultivation Resistance Due to the New Fallow Harrow Concept

One of the best precursors for winter wheat is fallow. Its application aims to solve two important tasks: preserving and accumulating soil moisture and weed control. The authors of this paper have designed a new modular harrow for fallow tillage, which can work stably at a depth of 5–6 cm tillage while maintaining and even accumulating soil moisture. This article describes a method designed by the authors for a reasonable selection of the design parameters concerning the working devices mounted inside the new harrow, such as their length and working width, as well as the angles of vertical inclination (ε) and horizontal deviation (γ) of blades, depending on the accepted depth of the upper soil layer loosening. To reduce the soil tillage resistance of the harrowing unit resulting in a reduction in the tractor fuel consumption, the value of the inclination angle (ε) of its vertical blade should be chosen so that the corresponding change in the value of the deflection angle of the horizontal blade (γ) complies with the constrain of the product of tangents of these angles. Moreover, preference should be given to choosing the value of the angle ε with the subsequent determination of the angle γ value. It is demonstrated that proper use of the new type of harrow assures fuel savings and decreases carbon dioxide emissions even if fossil fuel alone is used. Additional reduction of CO2 emission can be achieved when biofuels are used as a replacement for fossil ones.

EDEM Simulation Study on the Performance of a Mechanized Ditching Device for Codonopsis Planting

Codonopsis pilosula is cultivated mainly in sandy soils, especially in the Dingxi area of the Gansu province, northwest China. They are mainly planted in hilly areas, where large machines cannot reach easily. Codonopsis pilosula transplanting has been adopted with a conventional flat planting way, film mulching and seedling outcrops. While its planting requires opening a shallow ditch, short operation cycle, considerable labor intensity and is in large demand, a simulation analysis was performed according to specific tillage resistance, helpful in the optimization design in later stages and the improvement of a domestic ditching plow’s performance. This paper studies the simulation performance of an adjustable trench plough and analyzes the orthogonal test and Design-Expert response surface of the data. EDEM simulation software was used to analyze the traction resistance of the furrow ditching mechanism in the ditching process. The results show that the traction resistance increased from 1751.31 N to 2197.31 N as the simulation working speed increased from 0.9 m/s to 1.5 m/s, 1.25 times higher than the former. It indicates that speed had significant effects on traction resistance. With the increase in working speed, the furrow traction resistance and specific consumed power were increased considerably. Using the stability coefficient of the ditching depth and consistency coefficient of ditching bottom width as test indices, speed and angle of furrowing as impact factors, Box–Behnken orthogonal experiment design method, and establishing test indices and test factors, the regression model between the analysis of the influence of the test index, comprehensive agronomic requirements and MATLAB factor optimization of the experiment, the optimized operation parameter combination was obtained: the forward speed was 0.9 m/s, the angle of ditching was 35° and the stability coefficient of the ditching depth and consistency coefficient of ditch bottom width were 97.57% and 98.03%, respectively. The data after the simulation comparison test can provide a design reference for the domestic small trench operation.

Vibration characteristics analysis and suspension parameter optimization of tractor/implement system with front axle suspension under ploughing operation condition

To improve the riding comfort and driving safety of the tractor system, it’s necessary to build a vibration model of wheeled tractor/implement system to analyze its corresponding vibration characteristics. A discrete element model of plough-soil coupling system was developed in this work to obtain the tillage resistance and its effectiveness is verified through experiment. Then, the vibration model of wheeled tractor/implement system with front axle suspension under ploughing condition was constructed and the corresponding vibration characteristics of the tractor system under road transportation, farmland transportation and plough operation conditions were simulated. It’s demonstrated that the simulated vibration responses agree well with the measured data and the validity of the proposed model is proved. The simulation results show that the natural frequency of the tractor system almost remains constant under the three working conditions above and the natural frequencies of vertical vibration for front axle, cabin, driver seat and implement are 2.09 Hz, 2.84 Hz, 2.84 Hz and 2.09 Hz, respectively. The existence of front axle suspension will deteriorate the ride comfort of driver but improve the handing stability obviously. The farmland road roughness and tillage resistance can reduce the vibration responses of the wheeled tractor/implement system with front axle suspension significantly. With the increase of tillage speed or depth, the vibration responses of the tractor system rise tremendously. When the tillage speed or depth is constant, the largest vertical vibration acceleration exists on the front axle. In addition, the multi-objective optimization of stiffness and damping parameters for the front axle suspension is implemented through particle swarm algorithm and the optimal stiffness and damping are recommended to be 60 kNm−1 and 8.919 kNsm−1, respectively.

高速翻转犁犁体曲面优化设计

The farmland in Xinjiang of China is mainly sandy loam soil, on which the crops are subject to flat planting with mulched film. Before planting, the soil should go through deep ploughing in a short operation period, thus there is high demand on the high-speed plow and it is necessary to optimize the plow based on tillage resistivity to improve its working performance. In view of optimal design of the surface of high-speed reversible plow, simulation test was adopted to optimize the resistivity model, then finite element method was used to test the force condition of the plow. At last, the tillage resistivity of the plow after optimization was tested by soil bin test. Test results showed that, at tilling depth of 300 mm, tilling speed of 12 km/hm, and when the plow height was 250 mm with cutting angle of 37° and dozer angle of 84°, the plow achieved the optimal tillage resistivity and the optimal combination was 2.85 N/cm2; at tilling depth of 300 mm, soil moisture content of 17%, and soil compactness of 220 N/cm2, the maximum tensile stress on the surface of the plow was 115.61 MPa and total deformation was 2.869 mm; the maximum flexible strain of the plow was 9.38×10-4. Soil bin test showed that, at tilling depth of 300 mm, dozer angle of 84°, the optimized high-speed reversible plow reduced the tillage resistance by 17.9% compared with common high-speed reversible plow made in China, and can provide reference to the design of high-horsepower tractors.

Optimization design and performance study of a subsoiler underlying the tea garden subsoiling mechanism based on bionics and EDEM

Considering the problems of high tillage resistance, high energy consumption, and failure to break the plow pan in subsoiling caused by the high viscosity of tea garden soil, a new design method of a subsoiler underlying the subsoiling mechanism based on structural bionics and the discrete element method is proposed. Taking the largest toe of mole cricket's forefoot as the bionic object, the biological information of the contour of mole cricket's toe was extracted using the methods of image processing and reverse engineering, and the edges of its outer and inner contours were obtained. Combined with the structure of an existing subsoiler, initial point cloud data of a bionic subsoiling shovel were mapped by the methods of proportional amplification and rotation. Taking the minimum sum of outer and inner contour fitting errors as the optimal objective function and selecting high-order polynomial as the fitting function, the optimization model of the outer and inner contour point cloud fitting function was established. The optimal fitting function of the outer and inner contour point cloud was obtained, and the bionic subsoiler model was established based on these two optimal functions. In the study of the discrete element, four soil particle models were proposed based on the actual shape of the cohesive soil of a tea garden. Based on the principle of discrete elements and the agronomic requirements, a modeling method of the plow pan soil was proposed. First, the adjacent soil particles at the bottom were connected by bonding, and the soil with large porosity was squeezed by the preset force to form the plow pan soil. Then, six tillage layers were added above the plow to form a soil structure model of the tea garden. The bionic subsoiler was assembled into a four-bar subsoiling mechanism. The process of the subsoiling mechanism acting on the soil was analyzed by the co-simulation of ADAMS-EDEM and compared with the common subsoiler. The results showed that the bionic subsoiler, compared with the common subsoiler, reduced the tillage force in the horizontal direction by 16.34% and in the vertical direction by 24.53%, reduced energy consumption by 9.64%, increased the damage to the plow pan by 5.10%, and caused greater disturbance to the internal soil. The influence of different driving speeds on the tillage performance was studied, which provides a theoretical reference for the better selection of the working speed for subsoiling.

Simulation and experimental study on drag reduction and anti-adhesion of subsoiler with bionic surface

A new subsoiler with placoid scale microstructure bionic surface was proposed which mimicked shark skin to reduce tillage resistance and soil adhesion during subsoiling cultivation. The contour curves of placoid scale microstructure on shark skin were fitted, and two kinds of bionic subsoiler with continuous and discontinuous microstructures were designed and fabricated, respectively. The effects of different bionic surfaces on tillage resistance were investigated by finite element simulation and experiment. The results indicated that the bionic subsoiler with discontinuous microstructure reduced the horizontal and vertical force by 21.3% and 24.8%, respectively. The subsoiler with discontinuous microstructure surface can prevent the adhesion between the soil and subsoiler surface more efficiently. Keywords: drag reduction, anti-adhesion, subsoiler, bionic surface, placoid scale microstructure, Finite element simulation DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20221504.6531 Citation: Niu J P, Luo T Y, Xie J Q, Cai H X, Zhou Z K, Chen J, et al. Simulation and experimental study on drag reduction and anti-adhesion of subsoiler with bionic surface. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2022; 15(4): 57–64.

Georeferenced tractor wheel slip data for prediction of spatial variability in soil physical properties

The upcoming technological breakthrough in the cropping system will offer a more detailed insight into soil-to-plant, man-to-soil, and man-to-plant impacts, thus improving the forecasting and ensuring more efficient in-field management. This study presents various on-the-go sensing procedures which were conducted in order to evaluate the quality of spatial estimations of soil physical properties such as soil compaction, soil moisture content, bulk density and texture. Standard statistical tools showed high positive correlations between soil specific resistance and soil compaction (R2 = .75), soil electromagnetic conductivity and moisture content (R2 = .72) and tractor wheel slip and soil compaction (R2 = .64). Variogram modeling of spatial autocorrelation gave the highest prediction error for tillage resistance (9.85%), followed by cone index (4.49%), moisture content (3.7%), bulk density (1.39%), clay + silt content (.98%), soil electromagnetic conductivity (.95%) and the least error was obtained for tractor wheel slip (.58%). The Central Composite Design (CCD) analysis confirmed significant contribution of soil compaction in the modeling of the specific soil resistance and tractor wheel slip, while soil moisture content and fine particle (clay + silt) content had a major impact on soil electromagnetic conductivity measurement. Soil bulk density had considerable importance in CCD modeling of tractor wheel slip.

ВЛИЯНИЕ КОНСТРУКТИВНО-ТЕХНОЛОГИЧЕСКИХ ПАРАМЕТРОВ КУЛЬТИВАТОРА С ПРАВО- И ЛЕВОСТОРОННИМИ ПЛОСКОРЕЖУЩИМИ ЛАПАМИ НА СОПРОТИВЛЕНИЕ ОБРАБОТКИ ПОЧВЫ

The materials of the article discuss the issue of the effectiveness of the use of a cultivator with right- and left-sided flat-cutting paws mounted on a longitudinal base on both sides in a staggered arrangement, with continuous tillage. Analytical dependences were derived reflecting the influence of the design and technological parameters of the proposed design of the cultivator on the resistance of tillage. To confirm the possibility and adequacy of the application of the presented dependences, laboratory and field studies were carried out. The studies were carried out in accordance with the requirements of GOST 20915-2011, GOST 33687-2015, GOST R 54783-2011. For these purposes, a design was developed that imitates the proposed design of the cultivator. In the course of laboratory studies, it was found that with an increase in the depth of tillage with the right- and left-sided flat-cutting paw of the cultivator, there is a sharp increase in the resistance of tillage and at a tillage depth of 4 cm, the increase was 56.7%, at a depth of 6 cm - 39.1% ; 8 cm - 28.9%; 10 cm - 24.1% and 12 cm - 20.4%. Increasing the speed of tillage by the cultivator of the proposed design also leads to an increase in the resistance of tillage. It was found that by increasing the soil tillage speed to 1.8 m/s, an increase in soil tillage resistance up to 9.4% was recorded, and a further increase in tillage speed leads to a higher increase in soil tillage resistance up to 23.5%. Conducted field tests fully confirmed the results of theoretical and laboratory studies. The comparison of the results of soil tillage resistance performed by the serial cultivator KPS-4.0-0.2 found that it is 9.8% higher compared to the cultivator of the proposed design. This circumstance allows us to conclude that the use of a cultivator with right- and left-sided flat-cutting paws is effective in tillage.

Field experiments evaluating a biomimetic shark-inspired (BioS) subsoiler for tillage resistance reduction

Due to the increasingly severe soil compaction and plough pan thickening prevalent in agricultural practice, an increase in operating energy consumption and a decrease in crop growth has been observed. This paper aims to solve the problem of heavy tillage resistance by using riblet structures extracted from shark scales in the design a biomimetic shark-inspired (BioS) subsoiler. To produce better quality work, the design parameters of the BioS subsoiler, including the ratio of the riblet height to the riblet spacing h/s, the riblet height h, and the internal friction angle α, were considered, and a mechanical analysis of the relationship between the BioS subsoiler and the soil was performed to evaluate tillage resistance, total energy consumption and soil disturbance. The minimum tillage resistance and energy consumption of the shank and tine were achieved with an h of 5 mm and h/s of 0.57 obtained from the simulation results. Then, the parametrically optimized BioS subsoilers were fabricated and used to perform field experiments at different tillage speeds. The effects of subsoiling with BioS subsoilers and with an ordinary subsoiler (O–S) on the soil moisture, root morphology and crop yield were also discussed. The results showed that the BioS subsoiler would be helpful to increase the root absorption capacity of water and nutrients, which promote crop growth and increase the crop yield.

Design and Analysis of Bionic Rib Subsoiling Shovel Based on Hawaiian Shell

In order to reduce the tillage resistance in the subsoiling process of soil, this paper uses a three-dimensional laser scanner to obtain the data point cloud on the outer surface of Hawaiian shellfish, and performs curve fitting, and designs 14 bionic ribbed subsoilers with different shapes according to the fitting function. In order to analyze the drag reduction effect of various subsoiling shovels, the average tillage resistance of 14 bionic subsoiling shovels and non-bionic subsoiling shovels with smooth surfaces was calculated. The results show that the tillage resistance of bionic subsoiling shovels is less than that of non-bionic subsoiling shovels, the drag reduction effect of 45 degrees rib angle is better than 30 degrees and 60 degrees, the drag reduction effect is better when the rib width is 30mm, and the number of ribs has no obvious difference.

In-field experiment of electro-hydraulic tillage depth draft-position mixed control on tractor

The soil condition and condition of the plow affect the tillage resistance and the maximum traction of tractor. In order to improve the adaptability of tractor tillage depth control, a multi-parameter control strategy is proposed that included tillage depth target, draft force aim and draft–position mixed ratio. In the strategy, the resistance coefficient was used to adjust the draft force target. Then, based on a JINMA1204 tractor, the electro-hydraulic hitch prototype is constructed that could set control parameters.. The fuzzy controller of draft–position mixed control is designed. After that, in-field experiments of position control was carried on, and the result of experiment shows the error of tillage depth was less than ±20mm. The experiment of draft-position control shown that the draft force and the tillage depth could be adjust by multi-parameter such as tillage depth, resistance coefficient and draft-position mixed coefficient. So that, the multi-parameter control strategy could improve the adaptability of tillage depth control in various soils and plow condition.