DEVELOPING SIMPLE AND CHEAP MEASUREMENT SYSTEM AND LOGGING BOX FOR OBTAINING CULTIVATOR LEGS DRAFT FORCE USING ARDUINO BOARD

Abstract

In this work, an Arduino based system to measure the draft resistance of an individual cultivator leg was developed. Two types of cultivator legs were used: S-type spring leg and rigid leg. An extended octagonal ring was used as the sensor. The strength and strain analyses of the ring were performed by a finite element software. The locations of the strain-gauges were selected so that the load-cell amplifier gives high output voltages.  The measuring system outputs were calibrated with the digital force gauge meter.  R-squared value was observed as 0.9999. The Designed and produced measuring system was tested on the tractor in the field successfully. Different tractor speeds, tillage depths and cultivator legs were considered. The measurement values recorded in the SD card with the measurement system were transferred to the computer and analysed. It was observed that when the tillage depth and the tractor speed increase then the draft force values also increase.   As a result of this study, an Arduino-based low-cost draft force measurement system for obtaining draft force of soil tillage machine has been designed, produced, and used successfully.