KINEMATICS OF A ROTARY TILLER EQUIPPED WITH A TURNING MECHANISM FOR TREE-TRUNK BYPASS
ՇՐՋԱԴԱՐՁԱՅԻՆ ՄԵԽԱՆԻԶՄՈՎ ՀՈՂԱՄՇԱԿ ՖՐԵԶԻ ԿԻՆԵՄԱՏԻԿԱՆ ԾԱՌԱԲՆԵՐԻ ՇՐՋԱՆՑՄԱՆ ԺԱՄԱՆԱԿ
DOI : https://doi.org/10.35633/inmateh-79-100
Authors
Abstract
To prevent mechanical damage to tree trunks during cultivation of orchard inter-row and near-trunk areas, agrotechnical requirements prescribe leaving a certain uncultivated soil area around each trunk as a plant protection zone. When the working unit is periodically displaced relative to the tree-row axis by forced motion, an additional untreated soil area remains outside the plant protection zone. Its size is influenced by several factors, including the diameters of the rotary tiller and tree trunk, the lengths of the swing arm carrying the tiller and the sensing probe that actuates the hydraulic system, the tractor travel speed, and the piston-rod velocities of the hydraulic cylinder. Among these factors, the present study considers the principal kinematic factor: the influence of the backward motion of the hydraulic-cylinder piston rod toward the inter-row space and its forward motion toward the tree row, which provide and regulate the transverse displacement of the tiller relative to the tree-row axis, on the size of the untreated soil area. Using a grapho-analytical method for drive mechanism analysis, the equations of motion of the vertical-axis rotary tiller during tree-trunk bypass were derived for the backward motion of the hydraulic-cylinder piston toward the inter-row space and the forward motion toward the tree row. The resulting motion trajectories are cycloids. To characterize them, the concept of a bypass kinematic parameter was introduced: Λ=V_c⁄V_m , representing the ratio of the circumferential velocity of the tiller’s transverse-radial motion to the tractor forward velocity. The size, shape, and position of the untreated soil area outside the plant protection zone relative to the tree trunk are determined by the value of the bypass kinematic parameter, which, for a given tractor speed, depends on the backward and forward velocities of the hydraulic-cylinder piston rod. It was established that, for given structural and kinematic parameters of the tillage machine, regulating the volume of oil supplied to the hydraulic cylinder makes it possible to minimize the untreated soil area outside the plant protection zone around the tree trunk.
Abstract in English



