Design of a mechanical system for tillage tool depth control on small farm tractor

Abstract

Tractor implements increase the risk of injury by destabilizing the tractor, and therefore they must be designed with caution and mechanical integrity. Tillage tool attachment systems must be designed to determine a tool's maximum depth into the soil and withstand the resulting forces from the soil. The following paper presents a design for an attachment system that incorporates a self-locking rack and pinion jack, load-bearing sliding surfaces, and rack clamp that is used to secure the cultivator sweep. The design is evaluated for deformation and deflection at the maximum theoretical loads using Finite Element Analysis. The design successfully minimizes deflection, but exhibits stresses higher than the material yield stress in a small area. After slight modifications to the bar attachment structure in a future design iteration, the tillage tool design will be ready to test in the field.