Energy and Fuel Consumption of Agricultural Aggregate

The efficiency of an agricultural aggregate (AgA), i.e., a tractor combined with a trailing or mounted implement, consists not just in performance but also in the consumption of fuel per unit of production, or per a hectare of treated soils. The design can be optimized and improved in terms of their quality by developing and implementing practical methods for assessing the efficiency of AgA; this problem is especially relevant when designing a tractor. Energy used to actualize tangent thrust force has to be taken into account; a method which can be used to estimate not only the regular and dynamic components of such tangent force but also the hourly fuel consumption when designing an AgA. Simulation results are presented as the state surfaces of the frequency response (FR), the AgA tangent thrust force, and hourly fuel consumption for variable design parameters. The volume bound by the tangent force state surfaces and the coordinate axes is deemed to be the energy a part of which is spent to actualize the regular tangent force component, whereas the rest is lost as the dynamic tangent force component. By sectioning the FR state surfaces in the longitudinal-vertical plane at any fixed regular AgA travel speed and for the entire range of leading wheel load oscillation frequencies, we can calculate the regular and dynamic components of the tangent force, as well as the hourly fuel consumption. This paper dwells upon the plowing operation of a Kirovets K-744R-05 tractor with a PUN-8-40 plow operating on light soils.