Analysis of the engine torque of a small multi-purpose cultivator by ditching rotor operation

Abstract. Small multi-purpose cultivator is widely used for field operation due to the field of small scale in Korea. This paper measured and analyzed the engine torque of the cultivator by ditching rotor operation. The torque measurement system was constructed with torque sensors to measure the torque of a engine shaft, a measurement device to acquire sensor signals. Conditions of field test were conducted at two transmission gear stage (1st, 2nd) and two PTO gear stage (1st, 2nd) with 100 mm working depth on the field with similar soil conditions. One-way ANOVA according to the gear selection and Duncan‘s multiple range test at a significance level of 0.05 were used to analyze the engine torque. The average torques on the engine shaft for PTO gear 1st, 2nd at transmission gear 1st were 10.86, 16.97 Nm, respectively; the same for PTO gear 1st, 2nd at transmission gear 2nd were 17.06, 22.15 Nm, respectively. As gear selection is higher, the torque on engine shaft tended to increase. Therefore, farmers should determine the gear selection of the cultivator by considering the load and durability of the machine.