• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2014

Purpose: This research was conducted to evaluate feasibility of a crank-type walking cultivators for weeding in furrowed upland. Methods: A walking cultivator developed by RDA was selected and evaluated with its working speed (S), cultivation depth (CD) and weeding performance (WP). The evaluation was performed in upland field on July and August, 2012. Also kinematic analysis of the machine was performed to draw out design improvements. Results: S in flat, uphill and downhill were about 0.11 m $s^{-1}$, 0.11 m $s^{-1}$, and 0.13 m $s^{-1}$ respectively. It was found that S had a low relevance with user conditions. The CD was 35 ~ 40 mm which was satisfied with the RDA guide for weeding machine. A wide variation was observed in values of WP depending on the growth stages of weeds and field conditions. The cultivator showed low performance in eliminating the well-grown weeds. Kinematic simulation revealed that high forward speed caused a high ratio of un-weeded area. Conclusions: The weeding performance of the cultivator was satisfactory for weeds in early growth stage but it showed difficulties in handling on up-slope and in entering up-land. Specifically, the weight of the cultivator was judged as overweight for female workers. The crank-hoe type cultivator was judged as unsuitable for small walking type machine due to weight of the four-bar linkage system. Kinematic analysis revealed that the ratio of crank speed to the ground speed must be 850 rpm s $m^{-1}$ (255 rpm based on 0.3 m $s^{-1}$) or greater to avoid uncultivated area. Selection of forward speed is a decisive factor in designing the weeding cultivator.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.67-73
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• 2009

The goal of this study was to assess the level of vibration in an walking-type cultivator, and to provide a basic information to manage the vibration exposure for farmers. The latent periods of vibration-induced white finger (VWF) were assessed through analyzing the vibration levels and frequency characteristics. Also, vibration acceleration levels based on the daily vibration exposure duration was suggested. The latent periods of vibration-induced white finger were assessed by ISO 5349 method. The latent periods were 4.5 and 10.1 years at 10% and 50% of farmer group, respectively. Also, under ACGIH (American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists) standard, daily vibration exposure duration at 6.7 m/s2 of vibration acceleration has to be less than 4 hours. Therefore, education that maximum working hours should be less than 4 continuous hours is necessary for the operators of walking-type cultivators.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.223-229
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• 2007

This study was conducted to develop a 2 row type band furrow tiller for a walking cultivator. The tillage and weeding operations in the furrow of dry fields has been done manually or chemical herbicide has been applied. The application of herbicide induces soil pollution and manual operation requires heavy labor. This 2-row type implement was developed to substitute this manual operation and to minimize soil pollution. The developed implement was composed of power transmitting device, tilling device, frame and tail wheel. The max. plowing width and depth were 300mm and 180mm, respectively. The revolutions of the hexagonal shaft and the tillage shaft were $227{\sim}376rpm$ and $355{\sim}590rpm$, respectively. The adequate working speed was $0.50{\sim}0.83m/s$ and the field capacity was $0.17{\sim}0.28hr/10a$.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.31 no.3 s.116
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• pp.139-145
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• 2006

A previous study showed that the handle vibration of a walking type cultivator can be reduced by adding a mass to the handle. This study was conducted to determine the optimum magnitude and location of the mass to be added for the same cultivator. The possible locations of added mass were determined by investigating nodal points of the handle vibration by an ODS (operational deflection shapes) test at an engine frequency of 52 Hz. The optimum location was then determined as one that moved the nodal points to the hand grip of the handle bar. To determine the optimum magnitude of the mass, the possible locations were added by a mass from 0.2 to 2.0 kg in an increment of 0.2 kg. The optimum magnitude was then determined as a mass which minimized the vibration level at the hand grip. For the case of this study, the z-axis vibration at the hand grip was reduced from $2.67m/s^2\;to\;0.88m/s^2$ resulting in a reduction of 67% and the total vibration from $4.09m/s^2\;to\;3.27m/s^2$ resulting in a 20% reduction by adding an optimum mass to the optimum location.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.273-282
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• 2002

This study was intended to measure and analyze hand-transmitted vibrations from cultivator in idle and operation modes for three different types of field works. Based on this analysis a time for the white finger syndrome to appear on 10% of the operators was estimated assuming that their daily exposure is 3 hours. The 4 methods to reduce the hand vibration were also proposed and compared with each other. The results of the study were summarized as follows : The highest vibration level was recorded during trenching operation, resulting in a total average vibration of 11.5 m/s$^2$. Followings were 7.6 m/s$^2$ during rotary tillage and 7.0 m/s$^2$ for weeding. When exposed to these levels of vibrations three hours a day, the white finger syndrome is likely to appear in 4 years for trenching, 6.2 years for rotary tillage and 6.8 years for weeding operations. Isolation of hand vibration performed by a rubber pad, anti-vibration gloves, a handle anti-vibration device and engine mounts were respectively 15.7%, 16.5%. 26.1% and 27.0%, resulting in most effective methods of the handle anti-vibration device and engine mounts. A better performance of about 33.9% was achieved when both the handle anti-vibration device and engine mounts were used.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.29 no.6 s.107
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• pp.487-494
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• 2004

This study was conducted to develope a fertilizer-soil incorporation band tiller for the walking cultivator. Because the mixing of soil and fertilizer in the furrow of dry-field has been done manually, several time, heavy labor and much man power were required for the job. This rotary type implement is developed to substitute this manual operation for soil-fertilizer incorporation. The results of this study are summarized as follows : 1) This implement was composed of tilling device, fertilizer application device, frame and tail wheel device. 2) The revolution of driving wheel was $11\~28\;rpm$, that of application roller was $13\~14\;rpm$ the application rate range per revolution of driving wheel was $4.43\~11.80\;g$g and the application rate range by the working speed and the opening quantity was $84.12\~557.20\;g/min$. 3) The adequate working speed was $0.20\~0.40\;m/s$ and the required minimum width of open furrow was 250 mm.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.11-20
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• 2014

Purpose: Walking type cultivator used for weeding generated excessive handle vibration as well as bouncing motion depending on the weeding speed. This research was conducted to define a design factor of the rotary weeding blades for reducing soil reaction forces as well as hand vibration. Methods: The motion and forces acting on the rotary blades were reviewed to find out the most influencing parameter on hand vibration. The installation angle (IA) of the blade was selected and analyzed to determine the condition of no reaction force less. For removing the unnecessary upward soil reaction, the design factor theory of weeding blade was suggested based on geometrics and dynamics. For evaluation of design factor theory, the experiment in situ was performed base on ISO 5349:1. The vibration $a_{hv}$ and theoretical value $X_{MF}$ were compared with two groups that one was positive group ($X_{MF}$ > 0) and the other was negative group ($X_{MF}$ < 0). Results: $X_{MF}$ was derived from rotational velocity, forward velocity, disk diameter, weeding depth, blade's width and IA of blade. Two groups had significant difference (p < 0.05). In aspect of the group mean total exposure duration, positive group was 17.53% bigger than negative group. When disk radius 100, 150 and 200 mm, minimum IAs were $4{\sim}27^{\circ}$, $3{\sim}15^{\circ}$ and $2{\sim}10^{\circ}$, respectively. A spread sheet program which calculated XMF was developed by Excel 2013. Conclusions: According to this result, minimum IA of weeding blade for soil reaction reduction could be obtained. For reduction hand-arm vibration and power consumption, minimum IA is needed.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.101-108
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• 2004

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.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.29 no.5 s.106
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• pp.385-394
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• 2004

The objectives of this study were to investigate the effectiveness of rubber as an engine mount of walking-type cultivators and to determine its optimal spring constant and damping coefficient using a dynamic simulation of the engine mount system. Four different types of rubber mounts were tested to determine their spring constants and damping coefficients, and the best type was selected for the isolation of the engine vibrations transmitted to the handle. The total vibration levels transmitted to the handle when the rubber mounts weren't installed were 17.52 $m/s^2$. The total vibration levels transmitted to the handle when the rubber mounts were installed were 10.69 $m/s^2$ for Stripe 1, 11.33$m/s^2$ for Stripe 2, 10.92$m/s^2$ for Stripe 3 and 14.19$m/s^2$ for Hive, respectively, resulting in an average of $30\%$ reduction when compared with that without the engine mount. A dynamic model of the cultivator's engine-mount system and its simulation program were developed and verified. A method was proposed to determine the optimal spring constant and damping coefficient of the engine-mount system. It was found from the simulation that a spring constant of 4,100 kN/m and the largest damping coefficient were the most effective for the vibration isolation.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.32 no.2 s.121
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• pp.91-96
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• 2007

In this study, a prototype remote controlled weeder using solar module was developed and the evaluations of weeding, side walking and weeding performance were conducted to see if actual application was feasible in the paddy field. When traveling, the loss electric current was 8 to 15 A depending on operating and soil conditions. The average traveling speed was 0.25 m/s and the average slippage was 18%. When it side walked row by row, electric current consumption was 7 A on the average. When wheel rotors line went initially up and last down, electric current consumption was 12 to 15 A due to soil resistance. Electric current consumption when shifting wheel rotors line was less than 5 A due to no resistance. Field efficiency was 105 min/10a based on the test field. Operation was able to be done for 4.16 hours continually by 52 AH battery based on 300 W average maximum power consumption and 4.6 hours under sunny day considering solar module.