Technology in Farm Machinery Field

RobS · Dec 19, 2003

Make the tractor with a variable position gravity center 

Both modern and vintage ag tractors have this feature, it just doesn't adjust automatically. Weights of all sorts are added/deleted from tractors depending on the conditions.

Regarding strength of frames etc... I'm not an ag engineer so I can only make this assumption: Weight of components is not a significant consideration in tractor design, at least nowhere near as significant as in the auto industry. Based on that assumption, if the ag designer needs a stronger frame member he/she is unlikely to pursue an expensive, higher strength material when it is much cheaper/easier to just add material. Thicker sections etc. are an excellent, though low tech, solution where applicable.

Now what if that engineer had used a 3D CAD system with self-contained FEA modelling for stress and fatigue simulation to design the part. Now he/she makes several design iterations before spending a penny on a prototype part. Once ready for a prototype, the CAD data file is sent electronically to the machine shop where it is further manipulated to generate tool paths etc. then fed directly into the CNC machining center. Minutes later, out pops a part, ready for test. Not quite ready for a test part but want a mock up? Send the same CAD data to a 3D printer and have a plastic model made a few minutes as well.

I don't know for sure, but I'll bet this technology is used in the ag industry every day. It is commonplace in the auto industry /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

art · Dec 19, 2003

Rambler, when going to the field on demo's I see tractors that weigh to much and that hinders there performance. Lighter or to be able to move the weight for maximum performance is something that can only be done with testing in the field as you can not simulate actual conditions. The computers have helped the farm industry to build better products.

Egon · Dec 19, 2003

Cowboydoc:

Remember the joke of years ago. The city fellar with the Cadillac gets it stuck. Tells the farmer pulling him out not to damage his $12000 car. The farmer unhookes and says " In that case I'll not want to damage my $50000 tractor.

Perhaps this is an illustration of the concept in which many people view Farmers.

Egon

MossRoad · Dec 19, 2003

Nomad, you seem to be one of those guys like we had in our neighborhood when I was growing up. They had a pile of parts behind the garage and at any given hour of the night you could see the flash of a welder in their garage windows or the hum of machinery coming from their home. Always thinking of different ways to do things. Some of the parents would roll their eyes and shake their heads, but us kids were always over there seeing what cool things they were developing in their garages. That's how new advances, discoveries and technologies are found. You ask some good questions and keep us thinking. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

As someone mentioned, the basic job of a tractor hasn't change much because it does such a good job... something to pull implements across a field. And there have been tremendous advances in the large ag tractors allowing fewer people to do more work.

As to what materials these tractors are made of, I like the point that Rambler made about repairs...

Most of the farmers that I know have a shop building where they do repairs to their equipment themselves all winter in preparation for the next growing season. They also have portable welders to make repairs in the field. Some of the materials that we are discussing here would be very hard to do repairs on in the field. That's probably why good old steel is still used in this application. It seems to be the most practical material for these applications.

Villengineer · Dec 19, 2003

( I didn't make any calculation, but can still have a prediction. I assume by lowering mass center of tractor a few inches toward the ground and shifting it a few inches toward the rear will reduce the weight of tractor in some degree. )
Changing the CG of anything does not affect it's weight at all. CG is a relative point used to simplify the analysis of how an object's mass acts in a system. In general, with vehicles the origin of the vertical CG is the ground line. That being said, I own an old Satoh with an aluminum engine block and I'm going to be adding weight to the front of the tractor to move the CG forward so that it will stop pulling the front wheels. The idea for a changing CG location for optimum performance would be a wonderful thing. The problem is that no one, not even the luxury car manufacturers, the formula one guys, or the smartest scientists have been able to change the fact that 2 objects can not occupy the same place at the same time.
By the way lots of money, both private and public, is being used to research the use of alternatives to fossil fuels. I was involved in the research of hybrid electrics about 10 yrs ago and keep pretty up to date on it. The hold up is pretty much the same now as it was then. Despite how much $ they throw at it there hasn't been a big break through in battery tech. That's what's holding back electrics and solar, not $ or some huge conspiracy.

HayDR · Dec 19, 2003

Coyboydoc,
I could not agree more with you. It is ludicrous to discuss a supposition by Nomad that farm machinery has less technology than anything else. Farming has as much technology as needed for the given situation.

cowboydoc · Dec 19, 2003

Egon,

You're exactly right. And it's not just the 9000 series nomad. You can get very nice cabs all the way from the 5000 series to the 9000 series. They also do employ weight distribution technology to three point hitches and loaders. That's what tractor weights are for as well. That way you can have the best of all worlds. A light tractor when you need it, heavier in the front, rear, etc.

I doubt but a handful of people on here would even be able to say what most of the technology in a 7000-9000 tractor even does much less how to operate it or even why. I'm not saying that in a bad way to put anyone down but there are very few farmers on here and even fewer that have even used the kind of technology on todays tractors. As rambler pointed out things have changed greatly from the past and continue to change everyday.

MossRoad · Dec 19, 2003

I don't think it is ludicrous to have a friendly discussion.

Please share some of the advances in materials used in the impliments that you sell and deal with. You have way more experience than most of us.

art · Dec 19, 2003

The first models of farm tractors with the start of computers goes back to the 88series from IH. I remember them being kind of like the cars as far as some of the electronics never broke and some seemed to always be an aggrivation. We found we needed more grounds between the cab and chassis. Today with the developments they have had you could send anyone out to operate a tractor. In the early nineties Case-IH introduced the electronic draft control that you could actually limit the wheel slippage to 7% and then the equipment would raise and lower again when the slippage went below the preset amount.