• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.46-53
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• 2022

RIn this study, a test tractor that could measure various types of agricultural operational loads was developed, and its performance was verified. This tractor could be used to measure the load generated during agricultural work and convert the related data into a database. A test tractor was developed using an 80-kW-rated load tractor, and it could measure various types of field test data, such as engine torque and rpm, wheel torque, PTO(power take-off) torque, hexometer, IMU/INS sensor, steering angle sensor, hydraulic pressure, and flow sensor data. To verify the developed test tractor, a verification test using an agriculture rotavator was performed. The test conditions were L1, L2, and L3 based on the tractor's main and sub-transmission stages, and stages 1 and 2 were selected as the PTO. In a comparison of the analyzed test data, similar tendencies in the test results of this research and other research (Kim's research) were seen. Through this, the developed test tractor was verified. In the future, we plan to conduct research on the tractor developed in this study using various attached working machines.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.203-210
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• 2002

In this study, the leveling control system for a tractor has been developed. The experimental model showed that the implementation of the proposed hydraulic control system fur the prototype design of a slope land tractor was feasible. The front axle was designed as a center pin type and the rear axle was designed as a trailing arm type. The leveling control of the body on the slope land was accomplished by controlling the height of the right and left trailing arms using the electronic controlled hydraulic cylinder. The maximum leveling control angles were ${\pm}$15$^{\circ}$ for roll angle and 7$^{\circ}$far pitch angle. The front and rear wheel drives were transmitted by gears from the main shaft to the final drive. The adaptability of the hydraulic control system was tested and investigated by analyzing the system response in time and frequency domain. The hydraulic control system on a step input showed a linearly increasing trend without any overshoot state. The hydraulic control system on a frequency input showed a little phase differences and gain drops within the range of 0.3Hz.

• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.133-140
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• 2020

Traction performance of a tractor varies depending on soil conditions. Sinkage and slip of the driving wheel for tractor frequently occur in a reclaimed land. The objective of this study was to develop a tractor suitable for a reclaimed land. Traction performance was evaluated according to soil conditions of reclaimed land and paddy field. Field experiments were conducted at two test sites (Fields A: paddy field; and Field B: reclaimed land). The tractor load measurement system was composed of an axle rotation speed sensor, a torque meter, a six-component load cell, GPS, and a DAQ (Data Acquisition System). Soil properties including soil texture, water content, cone index, and electrical conductivity (EC) were measured. Referring to previous researches, the tractor traveling speed was set to B3 (7.05 km/h), which was frequently used in ridge plow tillage. Soil moisture contents were 33.2% and 48.6% in fields A and B, respectively. Cone index was 2.1 times higher in field A than in field B. When working in the reclaimed land, slip ratios were about 10.5% and 33.1% for fields A and B, respectively. The engine load was used almost 100% of all tractors under the two field conditions. Traction powers were 31.9 kW and 24.2 kW for fields A and B, respectively. Tractive efficiencies were 83.3% and 54.4% for fields A and B, respectively. As soil moisture increased by 16.4%, the tractive efficiency was lowered by about 28.9%. Traction performance of tractor was significantly different according to soil conditions of fields A and B. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the traction performance of tractor for smooth operations in all soil conditions including a reclaimed land by reflecting data of this study.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.273-284
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• 2018

Purpose: Conventional headland turning typically requires repeated forward and backward movements to move the farming equipment to the next row. This research focuses on developing an upland agricultural robot with an optimized headland turning mechanism that enables a $180^{\circ}$ turning positioning to the next row in one steering motion designed for a two-wheel steering, four-wheel drive agricultural robot named the HADA-bot. The proposed steering mechanism allows for faster turnings at each headland compared to those of the conventional steering system. Methods: The HADA-bot was designed with 1.7-m wide wheel tracks to travel along the furrows of a garlic bed, and a look-ahead path following algorithm was applied using a real-time kinematic global positioning system signal. Pivot turning tests focused primarily on accuracy regarding the turning radius for the next path matching, saving headland turning time, area, and effort. Results: Several test cases were performed by evaluating right and left turns on two different surfaces: concrete and soil, at three speeds: 1, 2, and 3 km/h. From the left and right side pivot turning results, the percentage of lateral deviation is within the acceptable range of 10% even on the soil surface. This U-turn scheme reduces 67% and 54% of the headland turning time, and 36% and 32% of the required headland area compared to a 50 hp tractor (ISEKI, TA5240, Ehime, Japan) and a riding-type cultivator (CFM-1200, Asia Technology, Deagu, Rep. Korea), respectively. Conclusion: The pivot turning trajectory on both soil and concrete surfaces achieved similar results within the typical operating speed range. Overall, these results prove that the pivot turning mechanism is suitable for improving conventional headland turning by reducing both turning radius and turning time.

• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.19-28
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• 2022

This paper introduces an automatic steering system for straight traveling capable of being mounted on drivable agricultural machinery which user can handle it such as a tractor, a transplant, etc. The modular automatic steering device proposed in the paper is composed of RTK GNSS, IMU, HMI, hydraulic valve, and wheel sensor. The path generation method of the automatic steering system is obtained from two location information(latitude and longitude on each point) measured by GNSS in advance. From HMI, a straight path(AB line) can be created by connecting latitude and longitude on each point and the device makes the machine able to follow the path. During traveling along the reference path, it acquires the real time position data every sample time(0.1s), compares the reference with them and calculates the lateral deviation. The values of deviation are used to control the steering angle of the machine using hydraulic valve mounted on the axle of front wheel. In this paper, Pure Pursuit algorithm is applied used in autonomous vehicles frequently. For the analysis of traveling characteristics, field tests were executed about these conditions: velocity of 2, 3, 4km/h which is applied to general agricultural work and ground surface of solid(asphalt) and weak condition(soil) such as farmland. In the case of weak ground state, two experiments were executed about no-load(without work) and load(with work such as plowing). The maximum average deviations were presented 2.44cm, 7.32cm, and 11.34cm during traveling on three ground conditions : asphalt, soil without load and with load(plowing).

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.88 no.2
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• pp.255-265
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• 1999

This study deals with forest soil characteristics and their effects on the trafficability of logging vehicles. The study area is the national experimental forest located in Kwangnung. This site has 20m length and is equally divided by 5 surveying ranges with 4m width, on which a tractor(FIATAGRI) attached with logging boogie can drive in 4 driving types, namely 1time-return unload, 1time-return with load of 780-790kg weight of 3 logs, 5 and 10times-return with same load. After one driving type on all surveying ranges, the soil hardness is surveyed 5 times with 3 several type tools, SHM-1 type, lang penetrometer(L-PNTM), and clegg impact soil tester(CIST). A disturbed degree of cover vegetation and sliding conditions of vehicle are also observed. As results, the soil type of the test site was SC by USCS and dry brown forest soil. The cover vegetation is gotten trambled under driving after 3-5 times-return, shrubs leaves are fully fallen and their bark are peeled, and after 10 times-return the cover vegetations were nearly disappeared. The test vehicle has neither slided nor was overthrown. The wheel tracks in the 1-3 ranges, of which unit weight(gd, gt) is high and soil moisture content(MC) is low, were only 1-2cm deep, but those in the 4-5 ranges, of which the gd, gt is low and the MC is high, were 5-7cm deep. In the soil hardness test, which was established in 5 test ranges by types of driving, the more driving times, the higher the hardness. The soil hardness surveyed by L-PNTM has changed slowly and that surveyed by SHM-1 type has risen sharply. In the ranges with higher specific gravity(Gs), higher unit weight, lower MC and higher liquid limit(LL) and plasticity index(PI) was the soil hardness high and the trafficability was good. In the ranges with opposite conditions, also in the ranges of the lower soil hardness, the trafficability must be not good, because the wheel track may be deep. The results from CIST attached with 4kg hammer was not better than expected. So it is recommended to use CIST with 2.5kg or 0.5kg hammer.