Design, Construction and Evaluation of an Interchangeable Digital System to Measure Slip and Ground Speed of Existing 2WD Tractors in Iran

The majority of existing tractors in Iran are not equipped with any tools to measure and display slip and ground speed. This is mainly due to the lack of national standards for measuring tools and instruments of tractors. In current research, an interchangeable system for two wheel drive tractors has been designed. Furthermore, it has been assessed after construction. To measure actual and theoretical ground speed, four rotary encoders for sensing the rotation of front and rear wheels have been utilized. Slip and ground speed were measured by means of software which has been developed in an ATmega16PU microprocessor. The measured slip and speed are digitally displayed on tractor dashboard. To evaluate the performance of the system, the measured values of ground speed and slip were compared with their calculated values obtained from conventional method. The Micro-controller has been programmed in such a way that the effect of front wheel sliding on slip is eliminated. In all evaluation conditions (in field and on asphalt), the maximum difference between system measurements for slip and speed and calculated slip and speed via conventional method was 2.4% and 0.2 km h-1, respectively. With slight alteration this system can be fitted on any kind of exiting two wheel drive tractors in the country.