Choosing Transmission Gearset for Agricultural Aggregates Based on Energy Consumption

Performance is a key indicator of agricultural aggregates (AgA), which are tractors aggregated with trailing or mounted implements. What determines AgA performance in plowing is its travel speed and the actual tangent thrust force. Both parameters depend on the gearset, the number of gear modes and gears, as well as the required engine power. The paper dwells upon a method alternative to the existing methods of determining the gearset and gear ratios for gearboxes in agricultural tractors. It is proposed to choose the gearset based on the energy consumption and the functional purpose of an AgA. For a wheel engine AgA based on a Kirovets K-744R-05 tractor, we herein determine the engine power and gear-specific reserve power as well as the transmission gear ratios and gearset which enable the unit to overcome temporary overloads without switching to a higher ratio gear while meeting AgA performance requirements. Minimizing the energy consumption of performing a specific operation reduces fuel and operating costs which ultimately lowers the costs of agricultural products.