Testing and Analysis of Off-Road farm tractors for Ride Comfort”

Abstract

Ride comfort is an important factor to estimate performance of automobile and become a stimulating topic for researchers for many years. The ride characteristics affect work performance and physical health of the driver along with vehicle's power, handling performance and economy. The ride comfort characteristic and vertical bounce characteristics in particular of various farm tractors has been carried out by providing and generating a dynamic tractor as input and analyze the vertical vibrations transmitted to the driver using ride comfort testing with the help of FFT analyzer and data acquisition system. The objectives of the work was to development of the ride comfort testing and instrumentation strategy, ride comfort testing of farm tractors in real time with necessary arrangement and comparative analysis of ride comfort characteristics on the basis of obtained results. The effect of the vibrations through the farm irregularities as well as various farming attachments to the tractors has been studied. Experimental off-road ride comfort analysis is explained with help of the vertical bounce parameters as the ride comfort parameters. Health guidance caution zone limit of ride comfort has been determined. The data can be further utilized for modifications in the farm tractor and farm equipment design to enhance the respective health limits.