Abstract
Tractor performance was analyzed using the data from 226 Korean-made and 107 imported tractors tested at the National Institute of Agricultural Engineering for the 25-year period from 1980 through 2004. The performance analysis included the specific volumetric fuel consumption (svfc), power per unit weight and traction coefficient evaluated from the viewpoint of PTO power level. No significant performance improvement has been made for the Korean-made tractors over the last 25 years. The average svfc for the maximum PTO power has increased by only $2.1\%$ from 1980 to 2004, resulting in 2.86 kW${\cdot}$h/L in 2004. The average maximum PTO and drawbar power per unit weight of ballasted tractors were 1.38 and 1.19 kW/kN in 2000-2004, indicating $14.0\%$ and $5.9\%$ decreases respectively from 1980 to 2004. The traction coefficient has increased by $23.1\%$ over the 25 years, resulting in 0.68 in the 2000-2004 period. Poor performance improvement was also observed from the imported tractors. In the 2000-2004 period, average svfc for the maximum PTO power, PTO power per unit ballasted weight, drawbar power per unit ballasted weight and traction coefficient of the imported tractors were respectively 3.0 kW${\cdot}$h/L, 1.34 kW/kN, 1.13 kW/kN and 0.68. PTO and drawbar power per unit weight were lower in imported tractors than the Korean-made tractors. Comparing the test results with those of tractors less than 37 kW tested at the Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory from 1981 to 2002, the Korean-made tractors have exhibited better performance in terms of power per unit weight. However, poor performance in the svfc and traction coefficient was observed. The average svfc and traction coefficient of the Korean-made tractors were respectively $86.4\%$ and $83.7\%$ of the tractors tested at the NTTL over the same period.
