Performance evaluation of mini-tractor drawn rotavator for small farmers

Abstract

The performance evaluation of agricultural machinery greatly depends on utilization of time and efficiency of field operations. The objective of present study was to assess performance indicators such as Actual Field Capacity (AFC), Theoretical Field Capacity (TFC) and Field Efficiency (FE) of an agricultural implement (rotavator) with respect to different engine speeds. The evaluation was done on three different engine speeds of 1500, 2000 and 2500 rpm respectively. The reported forward speeds were 0.869, 0.881 and 1.204 km/h respectively with corresponding engine speeds. The corresponding increase in TFC (0.0904 to 0.1265 ha/h) and AFC (0.0904 to 0.1265 ha/h) represents a positive relationship between engine speed and area covered. The field efficiency for all the speed was reported 100% because of minimal turning and overlap which leads to less time losses. The small difference in TFC and AFC at all engine speeds confirmed that the accuracy and precision of the machine was very high under ideal test conditions was observed. These results reported high work performance, less operating time with respect to different engine speeds.