Fuel consumption efficiency of an agricultural tractor equipped with continuously variable transmission

Abstract

The correct choice of modern power transmissions can help farmers decrease production costs. The following research aimed to assess fuel consumption efficiency of an agricultural tractor equipped with continuously variable transmission, at different travel speed and load levels applied on the tractor drawbar. Standard procedure has been applied considering six load levels (30; 40; 50; 60; 70 and 80% of Q0) by means of breaking with a dynamometer car instrumented in a concrete test track, at three travel speeds (5.16; 7.29 and 10.48km h-1). Throughout the experiment, engine speed, traction force and hourly fuel consumption were monitored. The results indicated that there was an average increase of 2.67; 2.82; and 2.61L h-1 in the hourly fuel consumption for each 10% increase in the load level on the tractor, for travel speed of 5.16; 7.29 and 10.48km h-1, respectively. In general, the specific fuel consumption of the tractor decreased as the load levels and the travel speeds were increased.

Interference of the Number of Remote Control Valves in Use on the Energy Performance of an Agricultural Tractor With Productivity Management

“…The increase in the number of RCVs in use led to a significant reduction in OS, mainly due to the higher energy demand with a higher number of operated valves. Thus, SFC (Table 2) with 1 RCV in use presented the lowest value, mainly due to the higher OS and higher PDB value, corroborating the results obtained by Farias et al (2017a).…”

“…The results obtained in the experiment described in Table 1 showed a significant difference for the parameters ES, FDB, OS, PDB, and EDB. The lowest number of activated remote control valves (1 RCV) provided high FDB, OS, and PDB, which directly interfere with the energy and operational performance of the agricultural tractor (Gabriel Filho et al, 2010;Farias et al, 2017a;Schlosser et al, 2017;Martins et al, 2018;Lopes et al, 2019), with no statistical difference in SLP and HFC.…”

“…Another performance indicator is the specific fuel consumption, which demonstrates how efficiently the engine transforms fuel into work, being defined as the ratio between the mass of fuel consumed in a certain time and the power developed in the drawbar; the lower the specific consumption, the higher the machine efficiency (Farias et al, 2017a).…”

Transmission systems in agricultural tractors marketed in Brazil

“…Additionally, it provides more comfortable operating conditions for the operator (AlOnSO, 2014). Furthermore, CVTs enable working at lower rotations and adequate speeds, resulting in high fuel efficiency during agricultural operations as long as there is no overload of reducing the torque reserve of the engine (FARiAS et al, 2017).…”

Effect of Straw Throwing Method and Some Operational Parameters on the Performance of a Small Rectangular Baler

“…Fuel consumption of the tractor affects with increasing of the forward speed according to the equipped machine. Economically, fuel costs represent at least 16-45% of the hourly costs of an agricultural tractor, and this represents the largest share of the total cost of an hour of machine work (Farias et al, 2017).…”