Analysis of the tillage and power consumption characteristics of a crank-type rotavator according to the tillage blade shape

In this study, the effects of tillage blade shape on tillage and power consumption characteristics were investigated for a crank-type rotavator. Three types of tillage blades were applied, i.e. standard blade, endsloped blade and narrow blade for the purpose of the study. Tillage operations were carried out using each blade with the same prime mover tractor and rotavator platforms in two different soil and Power Take-Off (PTO) speed conditions. During the operations, PTO speed and torque, soil pulverizing ratio and inversion ratio, actual work speed, and rotavating width and depth were measured, and the required power of the PTO shaft, field capacity and flow of tilled soil were calculated to compare the characteristics according to the tillage blade shape. Experimental results show that the rotavating width, actual work speed, field capacity, flow of tilled soil and soil inversion ratio were independent of the blade shape, whereas the rotavating depth and soil pulverizing ratio were influenced by the blade shape according to the soil condition. In the most commonly used tractor gear conditions of L2 and L3, the PTO power of the end-sloped blade and narrow blade were almost the same as each other, and significantly lower than the standard blade in the paddy field, whereas there were no significant differences among blades in the dry field. It can be concluded that if an adequate blade shape suitable for specific soil conditions is applied to the crank-type rotavator, power efficiency and good tillage performance operation can be achieved at the same time. Further research is needed to determine the optimal shape of tillage blade with certain soil properties.