Search

Agricultural vehicles, such as tractors, combines, and harvesters, are following the trend of commercial vehicles with a transition from diesel to electric propulsion. Seen as an integrated system, a full-electric tractor is a complex machine with many systems that have to be interconnected for efficient functionality; thus, the need for a central control unit arises. The purpose of this article is to present an electronic control unit that interconnects the powertrain, the hydraulic systems, and the auxiliary systems of a full-electric tractor, with an emphasis on optimization through software design. The article describes the hardware of the electronic control unit and the software state diagrams necessary to implement the functions required by the electric tractor. The results of this article show how, through software optimization, the performances of the tractor can be improved, with parameters such as the response time of the various equipment being a useful indicator of such an improvement. Furthermore, the implementation of trip memory and an easy-to-use human–machine interface allows for easy diagnostic of the electric tractor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent technological development aimed on increasing performances of electrochemical energy storage systems and the new advances of electric motors have created new opportunities for electrical equipment manufacturers in terms of autonomy, performance and stability over time. The development of electric vehicles reported a strong expansion lately, however, electric farm tractors operating in off-road environment are not yet considered interesting for the large equipment manufacturers, due to their high-power operation needs and the small capacity that energy storage systems may offer. One interesting research direction is assessing the opportunity of charging batteries directly in the field, using photovoltaic sources, located close to the land to be processed. In order to address to this important electric vehicle limitation, new technology is needed which will allow the batteries to be charged during the operation of the vehicle, or to recharge near the area to be tilled. Some models are equipped with replaceable battery pack, which can be easily sent on charging and replaced with a new fully charged pack. The present paper examines the ground area requirements for the installation of a photovoltaic station, designed to charge a prototype tractor model, produced by INMA Bucharest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vibrations usually aren't wanted in any technical system. This rule applies also to agricultural tractors, since their apparition could affect the normal functioning of the machine. One new type of agricultural tractors are the electrical ones, which have appeared in nowadays agriculture because of the need to protect the environment and to mitigate the technology's negative impact on the environment. Because of the electrical engine construction, this will generate less vibration during normal functioning, fact which will attenuate also the tractor's total vibration level. Because transportation is one very important work for which the electrical tractor could be used, its vibration comportment during this type of work is of particular interest for engineers. This paper presents researches done in order to assess the vibration level of an experimental model electric tractor during transportation work. The experiments were performed on the experimental plots from INMA Bucharest on a total distance of 3 km. The raw data for longitudinal, transversal and vertical directions were recorded and processed in order to obtain the RMS values for vibration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]