Abstract
The objectives of this study were to determine the natural frequency of a walking-type cultivator's handle using a modal analysis, to determine whether or not the handle resonates with forcing frequency induced by its engine, and to determine a method to reduce the handle vibration using a technique of the operational deflection shapes(ODS). Results of the study are as follows: The natural frequencies of the handle up to third harmonics were found to be 20.4, 22.5 and 92.1 Hz in the vertical direction and 14.9, 93, and 132 Hz in the horizontal direction. It was found that the handle does not resonate with the forcing frequency of the engine, which is 52 Hz. The operational deflection shape analysis revealed the deflected shapes of the handle in the vertical and horizontal directions and suggested that the handle vibration can be reduced by adding some mass to the place where the largest deflection occurs. Attaching of 1.1 kg mass adjacent to the largely deflected area resulted in reductions of vibration from 9.45 to 8.03 m/s$^2$ in x-axis direction from 3.89 to 3.16 m/s$^2$ in y-axis direction and from 7.89 to 3.09 m/s$^2$ in z-axis direction, which are respectively 15, 19 and 61% reductions. The total vibration level was reduced by 29%, indicating that mass-adding method by the ODS is very effective for reducing the handle vibrations of the cultivators.
