TRAILED UNIT FOR TESTING IMPLEMENTS UNDER FIELD CONDITIONS

Equipment for testing implements under field condition is described in this paper. The equipment consists of a trailed unit fitted with sens ors for making mechanical measurements to evaluate the implement power and working energy requirements. The main difference from previous eq uipment described in the literature is that all the measuring equipmen t is mounted on a trailed unit that is pulled by the tractor. The equi pment performs good quality measurements, as has been verified in fiel d tests, using a low cost sensor and acquisition system. The solution adopted for measuring the pulling force allows simplification of the m easuring system and, in turn, of the acquisition systems and the proce ssing software also. By using this system, measurements of pulling for ce, forward speed, p.t.o. speed and torque, pressure and flow in the h ydraulic system and working depth are verified in real time. Moreover, only a small number of people (the tractor driver and the person in c harge of the acquisition equipment) is necessary to perform the experi mental trials with the trailed unit. Altogether, the trailed unit solv es many problems related to cultivation implement field testing. The a cquisition system is flexible and can be arranged to fit specific rese arch requirements. (C) 1998 Silsoe Research Institute.