Abstract
The purpose of this study is to developed high-efficient rotary tillage system for a power tiller by improving the rotary blade. A kind of the rotary blade with single-edged blade(DS) was developed that requires lower tillage energy than conventional double-edged blade(CD) on the design theory for Japanese rotary blade. In order to find out the tillage characteristics between the single-edged blade and the double-edged blade for power tiller, experiments were performed in soil-bins which were filled up clay loam, loam and sandy loam, and then analyzed the effects of the factors such as soil texture, travelling speed, rotational speed, and tillage depth to each of the blades. And field tests were carried out to compare tillage performances of the two blades using rotary cultivator driven by conventional power tiller. The results of this study were summarized as follows; 1) On the soil bin experiment, it was found that tillage torque of the single-edged blade was less than the ones of the double-edged blade. The decreasing ratios of maximum tillage torque of the single-edged blade to the ones of the double-edged blade were 1 to 8% at clay loam, 5 to 20% at loam and 9 to 31% at sandy loam, respectively. 2) By the field tests, that the tillage performances with the single-edged blade compared with the double-edged blade was improved about 19% in field capacity, about 34% in fuel consumption, and 12.5% in soil breaking ratio. Furthermore, the fluctuation of engine speed, the variation of exhaust gas temperature, and the amount of soil clogging on the blade and straw wound on the rotary shaft showed lower values with the developed blade than the conventional blade. So, it may be concluded that tillage performance by the developed single-edged blade was improved compared with the one by the conventional double-edged blade.
