Study of process interactions of cultivation tools under high frequency excitation

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Ludger Frerichs; Dr.-Ing. Jens Twiefel; Professor Dr.-Ing. Jörg Wallaschek
• Subject Area: Plant Cultivation, Plant Nutrition, Agricultural Technology ; Engineering Design, Machine Elements, Product Development
• Term: from 2015 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 271387855

Soil cultivation is one of the basic tasks for agricultural machinery. The major aim is the creation of optimal growing conditions for crops. Non-turning tillage operations done by a cultivator have a high importance due to a higher productivity combined with less energy needs in comparison to turning tillage operations (with a plough). Due to the large masses which have to be moved non-turning tillage operations have a high need of traction power and energy. Therefore the development of possibilities to reduce traction power is a worthwhile goal. Optimizing the tools geometries is a promising approach which has to be examined by research institutions. A different promising approach is the superposition of the cultivator tine s movement with ultrasonic oscillations. The feasibility and demonstration of achievable savings were the major goals of the previous DFG-project which was carried out by the two applicant institutions. Through the use of ultrasonic technology the friction force was reduced by more than 50% compared with its basic value. During the previous project s it was shown that the results are significantly influenced by the variable conditions between the tillage tool and the soil. This environmentally based influence is that insufficient researched so that the utilization of the previous project results is constrained. In the proposed project two main aspects are focussed: Firstly the effects of the soil on the ultrasonic tool (oscillation, amplitude, energy flow) and secondly the effects on the soil flow around the tool. Both aspects are model-based and experimentally researched. For this purpose DEM and FEM algorithms are used. Using a test rig the simulations results are validated. Parameter studies are done too. In addition a trail vehicle is used for field tests. The obtained results are used to design an enhanced ultrasonic tool which is used for validating the simulation results of both research institutes. A special feature is the integrated real-time recording of the oscillation. The motion of the cultivator tine can be captured and visualized during the use on the field. An important, implied research question can be clarified during the project: Can the feed-back effects of the tool-soil-interaction be used to describe the soil characteristics? Ideally the measurements of the electrical ultrasonic driving signals can be used to detect specific soil characteristics. By mapping important information about the soil is available which can be used for the sought precision agriculture.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants