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Available at www.sciencedirect.com

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/issn/15375110

Research Paper: PMPower and Machinery

Three-point hitch-mechanism instrumentation for tillage power optimization

H. Bentahera,, E. Hamzab, G. Kantchevc, A. Maalejc, W. Arnoldd
a

Olive-tree Institute, P.O. Box 1087, Sfax-3000, Tunisia National Agronomic Institute of Tunis, Tunisia c National Engineering School of Sfax, PBW, Sfax-3000, Tunisia d Fraunhofer-Institute for Non-Destructive Testing (IZFP), Campus E3.1, University, D-66123 Saarbru cken, Germany
b

ar t ic l e i n f o
Article history: Received 29 December 2006 Received in revised form 28 November 2007 Accepted 29 January 2008 Available online 17 March 2008

In order to study tillage power optimization, a tillage-force measuring system has been built with transducers in the three-point hitch mechanism, and then has been calibrated and tested in the eld. The uniqueness of this system is its ability to measure the three orthogonal components of the tillage force despite using only three force sensors; this was possible by using a three-dimensional analysis of the tractor linkage mechanism. A dynamic calculus program was developed to take into consideration the changes of the three-point hitch-mechanism geometry during the tillage operation. The calibration results showed a linear relation between the applied and the measured forces. The preliminary eld tests proved the stability of the system results. The developed system can readily be applied in studies to minimize tillage energy consumption. & 2008 IAgrE. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1.

Introduction

Due to the rapid increase of energy cost, power optimization is a common objective for many engineering devices. Tillage is the biggest power consumer in an agricultural production system, and hence the evaluation of tillage effort is a eld of great interest. Researchers have proposed and built many systems to measure the force and power requirements of tillage implements. These systems can be classied into three types based on the location of the force transducers. For the rst type, sensors are mounted on the tillage tool (Girma, 1989; Formato et al., 2005). These systems give a precise idea about strain distribution on the implement that helps in their design optimization. However, they are expensive because each tested tool has to be equipped with sensors. Moreover, the transducers installation required some changes to implement global geometry which could modify the soiltool
Corresponding author. Tel.: +216 74 241589; fax: +216 74 241033.

interaction and the tool weight. The second category of systems has separate frames in which transducers are mounted. These frames are introduced between the tractor and the implement. Because these systems are interchangeable between different tractors and tools and are easy to manufacture, the majority of researchers have investigated such devices (Reece, 1961; Barker et al., 1981; Reid et al., 1985; Clark and Adsit, 1985; ODogherty, 1986; Chaplin et al., 1987; Thomson and Shinners, 1989; Palmer, 1992; Godwin et al., 1993; Hammada, 1998; Al-Jalil et al., 2001; Kasisira and du Plessis, 2006). However, this approach presents many inconveniences: rst, it requires a heavy frame to x the transducers which causes a change of the total weight and requires a backward displacement of the implement. Second, xing the transducers and the frame to the tractor necessitates many extra elements at the articulations that are a source of error in the measurements. For these reasons, the second type of system does not reect real work conditions.

E-mail address: bentaher.hatem@iresa.agrinet.tn (H. Bentaher). 1537-5110/$ - see front matter & 2008 IAgrE. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2008.01.008

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Nomenclature A to K and O positions of pin joints of the three-point hitchmechanism as dened in Fig. 2 Cg gravity centre of the tillage tool chassis G tillage application point g gravitational acceleration centre of the rear wheel l0 length of the lower link L1 distance between the joint of the lower link (tractor L01 side) and the pivot connection of the lift rod length of the lift rod L2 The third type consists of installation of transducers in the three-point hitch system of the tractor. Despite the fact that this category preserves the real conditions of eld work (e.g. tool-tractor position), little research has been focused on it. The efciency of these systems is highly related to the position of the sensors. On the one hand, some researchers mounted the transducers on the top and the two lower links (Bandy et al., 1985; Upadhyaya et al., 1985; Al-Janobi, 2000; Bentaher et al., 2003). The load of the lower links is complex. It entails tension, compression and exure which prevent the installation of force sensors. As a result, with such systems it is not possible to measure the lateral effort generated by asymmetrical implements. On the other hand, the installation of force transducers on the top and the two lift links seems to be the best solution. To the best of our knowledge, the only work that has been done on this type of system is by McLaughlin et al. (1993). In that work, the three-point hitch system was instrumented by ve force sensors. A transformation matrix was derived to transform the force of these transducers into orthogonal components of the tillage force. Since the establishment of this matrix was based on a twodimensional kinematic study (Bandy et al., 1985), the information concerning the lateral tillage force was lost.

length of the lift arm length of the upper link tillage tool mass reaction force in the point i at the direction j for the left side of the hitch mechanism r Rij reaction force in the point i at the direction j for the right side of the hitch mechanism Wx, Wy, Wz orthogonal components of the tillage force at the point G Xi, Yi and Zi Cartesian coordinates of the point i XG, YG, ZG Cartesian coordinates of the point G f rock shaft angular position

L3 L4 m l Rij

In the present work, a three-dimensional kinematic study was developed to establish the transformation matrix. We instrumented a tractor with three force sensors (on the top and the two lift links) and an angular transducer for the hitch rock shaft (Fig. 1). A dynamic program, taking into consideration the changes of the three-point hitch-system geometry, was established to calculate the tillage effort. The developed system is able to measure the three orthogonal components of the tillage force.

2.
2.1.

Materials and methods

Theoretical considerations

In the majority of the published work, researchers considered the three-point hitch mechanism as a planar system. This system was modelled in two dimensions to represent the forces in the original geometrical conguration between the tractor and the implement (Bandy et al, 1985; Al-Janobi, 2000). This twodimensional approximation, which causes the loss of the lateral force, can be accepted for the studies of symmetric implements. In order to evaluate the longitudinal, vertical and lateral forces of a non-symmetric tillage tool, a three-dimensional study of the tractor linkage mechanism is needed. The mechanism consists of seven articulated beams. During eld work, this system is isostatic with one degree of freedom. The angular position of the rockshaft is sufcient to determine the exact geometry of this system. To make the force calculation simpler, the three-point hitch system is modelled by ties and pin joints. The coordinates of each joint are calculated in a Cartesian coordinate system (X0, Y0, Z0) with I0, the centre of the rear wheel, as the point of origin (Fig. 2). The calculus equations of all the pin-joint positions are developed. The position of the tillage application point G in reference to this coordinate system is given by the equations: xG xD IH zK zD xD xK HG IK IK zK zD xD xK IH IK IK (1) (2)

zG zD HG

For a denition of the variables in these equations, see Fig. 2. An Excel calculus program (CP1) was developed to determine these coordinates. The inputs of this program are:

 tractor characteristics: Cartesian coordinates of O, O0, B, B0 ,

Fig. 1 Instrumented three-point hitch mechanism. E, and the distances: AA0 , L1, L0 1 and L3;

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A1 O1

Z0 K O2 I0 E B2 Wy Wz

A2

3
Z0 O E

4 K Z

Y0 D2

B1 D1

I0 B 1

X0

2 C

H D X G Wz W Wx

Y0 I0

B2 E X0 A2 A1

C2

Y D2

Line of attack

G K C1 I D1 X Wy

Wx W

O1 B1

Fig. 2 Rear view (a), side view (b) and upper view (c) of the three-point hitch mechanism showing lower link 1 and its length L1 BD; L0 1:the distance BC; lift rod 2 and its length L2 AC; lift arm 3 and its length L3 OA; upper link 4 and its length L4 EK; tool triangle chassis 5; longitudinal component of tillage force Wx; lateral component of tillage force Wy; vertical component of tillage force Wz.

3 Z0 O E
A 4 Rk 2 I B 1 mg C RD D W Cg K
l l

5
l

RDy l RBy l RCy 0 RDz l RBz l RCz 0 RCz yC yB l RCy zC zB l RDz yD yB l RDy zD zB 0 RCx zC zB l RCz xC xB l RDx zD zB l RDz xD xB 0 RCy xC xB l RCx yC yB l RDy xD xB l RDx yD yB 0
l

I0

X0

l l

l l l RCy RCx RCz RC xA xC yA yC zA zC L2

(3)

Fig. 3 Force diagram of the three-point hitch mechanism, Cg and mg are, respectively, the gravity centre and the weight of the tool chassis, W is the tillage force and Ri is the reaction force in the point i.

 adjustable lengths: L2 and L4;  tool triangular chassis characteristics: distances DD0, IK, IH
and HG;

 rock shaft angular position f which is the variable

parameter during the eld work. The tractor characteristics are measured and compared to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) restricted code test report (CEMAGREF, 1995). The equilibrium of the left lower link arm gives the following system of equations:
l

Here, Rij is the reaction force at the point i at the direction j, xi, yi and zi, are the Cartesian coordinates of the point i and l indicates the left side of the three-point hitch mechanism. The equilibrium of the right lower link arm gave a similar system of equations (r for the right side). From the equilibrium of the tillage tool chassis (Fig. 3), this system of equations is derived: 8 x x > Wx l RDx r RDx RK KL E > > 4 > > > > Wy l RDy r RDy > > > > z z > > Wz l RDz r RDz RK KL E mg > > 4 > < yD r RDz l RDz Wy zG zD mgyCg (4) > > > K > zK zD xK xE xK xD zK zE R > L4 > > > > > Wx zG zD Wz xG xD mgxCg xI > > > > r l > > Dx RDx : Wy R x x yD
G D

RDx l RBx l RCx 0

Here, Wx, Wy and Wz are the orthogonal components of the tillage force at the point G, m is the tillage tool mass and g is the gravitational acceleration. The last two of these equations are derived knowing the direction of the reactions in the two lift

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links and the top link: they are bi-articulated beams, and so their reactions are parallel to the beam directions. The solutions of these equations give the three orthogonal components of the tillage force:

transducer functioning as a potential divider was mounted on the rockshaft to monitor its movement. This transducer was used to measure the angular position of the hitch mechanism and to calculate the implement depth.

Wx

  xK xE xD xB zK zD xG xK xD xB zK zE xK xE xG xD zD zB RK xD xB zG zD xG xD zD zB L4   i xD xB xG xCg xC xB zA zC xA xC zC zB xD xG hl r mg RC RC xD xB zG zD xG xD zD zB L2 xD xB zG zD xG xD zD zB 

(5)

Wy

 i xB xD yCg xC xB zA zC xA xC zC zB yD hl mg RC r RC xD xB zG zD xG xD zD zB L2 xD xB zG zD xG xD zD zB   xK xE zK zG zD zB xD xK zK zE zD zB xD xB zK zE zG zD RK Wz xD xB zG zD xG xD zD zB L4   i x x z z x x z z  xC xB zA zC xA xC zC zB zD zG hl D B G D Cg D D B r mg RC RC xD xB zG zD xG xD zD zB L2 xD xB zG zD xG xD zD zB

(6)

(7)

xi, yi and zi, are the Cartesian coordinates of the point i. These equations show that the voltage responses of three force transducers located in the two lift rods and the upper link are sufcient to identify the tillage force. A second Excel calculus sheet (CP2) was developed to evaluate the three orthogonal components of the tillage effort. The inputs of this program are the outputs of the rst program (CP1) and the responses of these transducers. The ow chart of the two calculus programs is shown in Fig. 4.

2.3.

Data-acquisition system

2.2.

Instrumentation

The three-point hitch mechanism of a Massey Ferguson 6120 tractor was instrumented to evaluate the orthogonal components of tillage implements without changing the dimensions of the mechanism. Two HBM-U2B force transducers with a range of 200 kN were incorporated into the two lift links. Four simple thread shells were designed and manufactured to make the assemblage of these transducers possible. A third load cell with the same capacity and a lower weight was designed and constructed for the top link (Fig. 1). The incorporation of this transducer does not change the weight of the top link much (less than 5%). More detailed information concerning the design of this sensor and its calibration has been presented by Bentaher et al. (2006). A rotary position

The three load cells and the rotary position transducer were connected to four differential channels of the 21X Campbell scientic data logger. This data logger was connected to the RS232 port of a notebook via an optically isolated interface SC32A. The whole acquisition system was mounted on a platform behind the drivers seat. This system worked either on its own batteries or on the 12 V power supply of the tractor. The data logger was used to excite the transducers and to sample and record their responses. The notebook was used to control the in-eld sampling, to collect the stored data and to calculate the tillage effort using the developed calculus programs CP1 and CP2. The software (PC208) was used to prepare the data logger program and to run and test its validity and the proper functioning of the acquisition system. The sampling frequency used for the preliminary tests was 1 Hz and the excitation voltage for the transducers was 500 mV.

2.4.

Calibration

The instrumented three-point hitch-mechanism was calibrated using a separate HBM-U9B force transducer with a

Chassis dist.: D1D2, IK, IH and HG Input : Coord. of O1, O2, B1, B2, E Distance: A1A2, L1, L1, L3 Adj. length: L2 and L4 CP1 Cartesian Coord. of: A1, A2, C1, C2, D1, D2,k, and G

Chassis Charact. : m and XCg, YCg, ZCg

CP2

Tillage components Wx, Wy and Wz

Angular position
(t)

Transducer voltages V1, V2 and V3

Fig. 4 Flow diagram of the calculus programs; AA0 is the distance between the two liftarm joints; L1 is the distance between the joints of the lower link; L0 1 is the distance from the lower link joint to the lift rod joint; L2 is the lift rod length; and L3 is the lift arm length.

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capacity of 20 kN. The simulated effort was applied and varied with a chain-hoist attached to a xed point from one side, and to the force transducer from the other side. This transducer was xed to the force application point (G) of the triangular chassis with a cable. The tractor was placed on a horizontal plane veried by an engineers spirit level. The

applied forces, given by the sheared cable, were located in the horizontal and vertical planes; their modules were controlled by an HBM-MVD 2510 control-panel measuring-amplier. Three principal forces, related to the orthogonal directions, were applied: longitudinal (Wx), lateral (Wy) and vertical (Wz) effort. The applied forces were increased stepwise and at each value, the signals of the three sensors were logged for a period of 1 min. The results of the calibration are presented in Figs. 57.

0.06 Sensor response, mV 0.05 0.04 0.03 0.02 0.01 0 -0.01 -0.02 0 50 100 150 Time, s 200 250
Left Link Right Link Top Link

3.

Results and discussions

Fig. 5 Sensors response to longitudinal applied force (Wx).

0.15 0.1 0.05 0 -0.05 -0.1 0 100 200 300 Time, s 400 500
Left Link Right Link Top Link

Fig. 6 Sensors response to lateral applied force (Wy)

The calibration was done in the three directions in order to prove that the developed instrumentation was able to detect the three orthogonal components of the tillage force. The results (Figs. 57) showed that Wx and Wz were proportional to the reaction force of the two lift links and the top link. However, the lateral force Wy was proportional to the difference between the reactions of the two lift links and was independent of the top lift reaction. The calibration results showed a linear relation between the applied force and the responses of the three force sensors. The output of the calculus program CP2 (Wy) and its standard deviation are displayed versus the applied force in Fig. 8 and similar curves are obtained for Wx and Wz. The measured data fall very close to a straight line with a unit slope. The least square t with an R2 of 0.995 indicates that the force was underestimated by approximately 0.5%. The longitudinal measured force showed an error of 13% for the lowest force (900 N). This can be explained by the sensitivity of the developed system. In fact, the use of transducers with a high capacity (200 kN) represents a limitation in the measurement of small forces (McLaughlin et al., 1993). However, for higher forces, the maximal error was 0.82%. For the lateral force, the highest error between the applied and the measured forces was 7.6%. The error of the vertical force was less than 2.8%. In the design of this system we preserved the geometry of the hitch mechanism and the position of the tillage tool to the tractor because it will be used for two purposes. The rst one is to study the stability of the tractor and its characteristic curves (power supply/fuel consumption) for different speeds.

Sensor response ,mV

0.04 0.03 Sensor response, mV 0.02 0.01 0 -0.01 0 -0.02 0 100 200 Time, s 300 400 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 Applied force, N 5000 6000
Left Link Right Link Top Link

6000 Measured force, N 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000

Slope = 0.968 R2 = 0.995

Fig. 7 Sensors response to vertical applied force (Wz)

Fig. 8 Lateral measured force (Wy) versus applied force (solid curve is 1:1 line).

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5000 4000 Force, N 3000

Wy Wx

2000 1000 0 -1000 0 5 10 Time, s 15 20 25

Wz

Fig. 9 Measured data of the forces Wx, Wy, and Wz acting on the ploughshare of a 50.8 cm (2000 ) mouldboard.

In fact, the change of the tool position gives unreal results concerning the tractor reactions which are not directly transposable. The second purpose is to measure the power demand of different tillage tools in relation to the type of soil, its mechanical characteristics and the work parameters (depth and speed). These kinds of results are very useful for the evaluation of different tillage tools, the decision in the choice of the tool (e.g. according to the tractor power, availability on the farm, to calculate the number of plough shares) as well as the design of new tools adapted to the type of soil. The developed system gives us reliable results directly exploitable for research and for manufacturers in order to optimize power consumption. The eld tests were conducted at the Tunisian agriculture institute farm (361480 N, 101100 E), where the soil was silty consisting of 63.69% silt, 36.16% sand and 0.15% clay. The mean water content (dry basis) and the cone index for the upper horizon (020 cm) were 14% and 2.2 MPa, respectively. A 50.8 cm (2000 ) locally manufactured mouldboard with one ploughshare was used for the tests. The tractor speed used for these tests was 1 km h1 with a slip less than 2%. A tillage depth of 20 cm was chosen. The registered data are represented in Fig. 9. This gure shows good stability of the three orthogonal components of the tillage force. The means of the horizontal, lateral and vertical forces generated by the tested mouldboard are, respectively, 4105 N, 40 N and 295 N. The negative values indicate that the forces are in the opposite direction to the Cartesian coordinate system. The obtained data are in agreement with those given by several researchers working on a similar type of soil (McLaughlin et al., 1993; Al-Janobi, 2000; Al-Jalil et al., 2001).

ence is proportional to the lateral component of the tillage force. The developed calculus programs gave this system exibility in the interpretation of the logged data in relation to the tool penetration in the soil. The three components of the tillage force have been measured using a system that allows the natural positions of tool and tractor to be retained. This will allow the energy consumption of different tillage tools to be measured during natural operation, so that steps can be taken to optimize their design. More investigations would be needed to study the inuence of work parameters such as tillage speed, tillage depth and soil type on the measured forces to achieve this optimization.

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie for the nancial support of the researchers mobility between the laboratories: IZFP in the Saarland University LASEM in the Engineering school of Sfax and LAPOAF in Olive-tree institute of Tunisia.
R E F E R E N C E S

4.

Conclusion

Instrumentation of the three-point hitch mechanism allowed the force generated by tillage implements to be measured using just three force transducers. The system was calibrated and tested in the eld and the results showed its capability to measure the three orthogonal components of the tillage force. The three-dimensional study of the hitch mechanism of the tractor demonstrates that the technique allows the difference in the reaction of the two lift arms to be measured when using non-symmetric tools like mouldboards. Their differ-

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