FULL-POWERSHIFT ENERGY BEHAVIOR TRACTOR IN SOIL TILLAGE OPERATION

ABSTRACT

Operational speed influences the soil preparation quality, the first established according to the working set performance and its traction capacity. The experiment's objective is to determine the influence of working speed on energy and operational performance of an agricultural tractor with Full-Powershift transmission when performing a harrowing operation. We conducted the experiment using lines, in a randomized block design. It had four operational soil preparation speeds, with seven repetitions, totaling 28 experimental units. We measured the following parameters per worked area: slipping, engine rotation, specific and per hour fuel consumption, strength, power, and yield on the drawbar and operating speed. Additionally, we analyzed soil profilometry parameters concerning the mobilized area and working thickness. We also evaluated the variance of the collected data and, when significant, submitted it to a regression test. The data showed that higher operating speeds result in greater operational performance and reduction of the energy demand of the mechanized set under study. In addition, this increase doesn't have a beneficial effect on grid fluctuation, not affecting the quality of soil preparation.

velocity; fuel consumption; operating efficiency