Rotary Tiller Design Parameters

Part II-Depth of Tillage

James G. Hendrick and William R. Gill
MEMBER ASAE MEMBER ASAE

S with any other tillage method, Dalin and Pavlov (1950), working long's data did, however, indicate a
A ^ the depth of operation has con-
siderable influence on the power re-
in the USSR, published data in 1950
for three different rotary-tiller blades
smaller value for a pick blade than for
the C or L-shaped blades if extrapo-
quirements and performance of rotary showing input power versus depth (Fig. lated to zero tilling depth. This relation-
tillers. The rotary tiller is unique in that 3). An interesting difference between ship again points out the significance
during its operation the actual depth their curves and those of Furlong, as of blade shape, since Dalin and Pavlov's
of tillage for each blade varies through- reproduced in a previous article by the blades had little or no horizontal cut-
out the rotational path of the tool (see authors (reference 8 ) , is that those of ting section while Furlong's had a good
references 7 and 8 ) . Thus the average Dalin and Pavlov would pass through deal of horizontal cutting section which
depth of tillage will be governed by the origin if extended through zero required relatively great power at even
factors other than the ratio of rotor depth while Furlong's would not. Fur- small depths. Another significant point
radius and depth. These factors include:
tilling pitch, peripheral and forward
velocities, lateral spacing of blades, and FORWARD ROTATION
in towed tillers the weight of the ma- 7 0 0 FPM
chine. While it has been conventional 14
4 0 0 FPM REVERSE ROTATION
for tillers to be operated at a depth -L= 2 IN
less than the rotor radius, there are 12 > - L = 4 IN
indications that further study should be - L = 6 IN>
given to deeper operating depths. For
convenience, depths will be examined a10
in two classes—greater than or less than
the radius of the rotor. These classes
LU
will provide contrasting information for
depth of operation as a design O
£L
parameter.
<r
o
Tilling Depth Less Than o
a:
Rotor Radius
An increase in the depth of operation
of a rotary tiller, other conditions being
constant, increases the power require- 2 4 6 0 2 4
ment. Examples of increasing power DEPTH (IN) DEPTH (IN)
requirements as tillage depth is in- Fig. 1 Influence of depth of operation on rotor power when operating
creased for both directions of rotation, with an L-shaped blade with forward and reverse rotation. L is tilling
for two peripheral velocities and three pitch, (from data by Furlong, 1956)
tilling pitches, are provided by data
from a comprehensive study by Fur-
long (1956) (Figs. 1 and 2 ) . 14 [ FORWARD ROTATION
While power input increases with REVERSE ROTATION
depth, the specific power requirement fUU r KM
1 Z• 400 FPM
(power per unit volume of soil tilled) o a - [ _ = 2 IN
decreases. For example, the case of the 10 . o o - L = 4 IN
greatest power increase occurs in Fig. 1 * A
- L = 6 IN ^ *
for the 700-fpm peripheral velocity and 8
forward rotation, but the ratio of soil-
^ ^
volume-tilled increase to power require-
ment increase was 3:2. A more nearly
average ratio for all the data shown
6
Z^^^^
4
would be 3:1.7 for both the 700 and
400-fpm operations.
2 a-

Paper No. 69-661 (Part II) was presented at the Win-

ter Meeting of the American Society of Agricultural 4 6 0 2 4
Engineers, at Chicago, 111., December 1969, on a pro- DEPTH (IN) DEPTH (IN)
gram arranged by the Power and Machinery Division.
The authors are: JAMES G. HENDRICK, Agricultural Fig. 2 Influence of depth of operation on rotor power when operating
Engineer, and WILLIAM R. GILL, Director, National with a C-shaped blade with forward and reverse rotation. L is tilling
Tillage Machinery Lab., AERD, ARS, USDA, Auburn,
Ala. pitch, (from data by Furlong, 1956)
1971 • TRANSACTIONS OF THE ASAE 675
 " soil slice cut off is decreased. This type
^
35
30
Q.
X //
~ 25 /s
o: ;/
£20 /X/
o X
°- 15 / /
10
V tion of the relationship between the
5
10 15
DEPTH (CM)
Fig. 3 Influence of depth of operation on power
requirement of a bog knife ( 1 ) , a straight blade
(2), and a field hook ( 3 ) . The pushing power
exerted by each type blade was the same (4)
(Dalin and Pavlov, 1950)
is that the specific power to till re-
mained constant regardless of depth in
Dalin and Pavlov's data.
Tsuchiya (1965) found that the ro-
tary power input, at a constant rotor
speed, increased more rapidly with
increases in forward velocity at deeper
than at shallow depths of operation
(Fig. 4 ) . Mursch (1957) also found
the rotary power requirement increased
with increasing tillage depth. He pre-
sented other relationships which appear
to have merit, such as the power re-
quirement vs. a ratio of the volume of
soil slice to the width of the slice.
Tilling Depth Greater
Than Rotor Radius
Grinchuk and Matyashin (1969)
pointed out that there appear to be two
schools of thought regarding the rela-
tion of rotary tiller radius to the energy
requirements. One group contends that,
at constant velocity and tilling depth,
the specific energy requirement is de-
creased as the radius of the rotor is
increased because the thickness of each
5 10 15
DEPTH OF TILLAGE (CM)
Fig. 4 Depth of tillage versus rotary power
requirement at three forward speeds (Tsuchiya,
1965)
676
of argument was presented during a
jflz,
V discussion of Bernacki's (1962) char-
acterization of forces (reference 8 ) .
^y /
s A second group uses the argument
X that the expenditure of tilling energy
/~?>
is proportional to the length of cutting
path (£), thus decreasing the tiller
radius would result in a decrease in the
specific power requirement.
Frevert (1940) developed an equa-
4"Y_ length of cutting path of a blade and
the depth of tillage. Grinchuk and
20 25 Matyashin (1969), based on the geom-
etry of Fig. 5, developed an equation Fig. 5 Geometry of the cutting path. a 1 =
for the length of cutting path and con- angle between point of soil contact and the
vertical; a2 = angle between vertical and exit
structed graphs illustrating the D/h
from uncut soil at B; AB = length of cutting
versus £/h relations for a number of con- path ( f ) ; h = depth (Grinchuk and Maty-
ditions of z and X. If we know the ashin, 1969)
radius of the tiller R, the peripheral
velocity wR, forward velocity v, depth
of operation h, and number of blades cut. Other conditions being equal, re-
ducing the tiller diameter by half
cutting in the same path z, the length
reduced the specific energy require-
of cutting path £ can be calculated;
ment by 24 percent, and small diam-
1 + x eter tillers completely satisfied all
= 2R-
Jo* "agronomic" requirements, i.e., soil
pulverization, weed control, bottom
2 2 ridginess, etc.
V 1 - k sin ^ d 0 + / "J
Matyashin (1968) reported that
Vi k2 sin20 d<P ]° where the ratio of D/h = 1 to 2,
reverse rotation reduced the energy
requirement by 20 to 30 percent.
_
From Fig. 5, k — 2 V\ 90 Where D/h > 2, at the same tillage
1 + x depth, 10 to 15 percent less energy
was required by forward rotation. Fig.
"i;2 , ax is the
deg or <£ = 8 presents data showing several rela-
2
angle between blade entry into the soil FORWARD ROTATION
and its vertical position, a2 is the angle
between the vertical position and the nil1111 M nh\
point where the blade leaves undis-
turbed soil. The solution of the equation | y\
rMW
yyvv
is shown graphically in Fig. 6 for both \\\ \\ \ y\ \/\/\l\ A
forward and reverse rotation; zones of NJlH^^^ 1
minimum values for the ratio of cutting
length to tilled depth are designated. K^CpM
For forward rotation, we find the opti-
mum depth of operation should be at
]fff4iPfq | | _]__}_
! o ? h - o £ o o o D/
- - - ' w N K l t K i II
a diameter to depth ratio range of REVERSE ROTATION
D/h — 1.13 to 1.33; for reverse rota-
tion D/h = 1.03 to 1.14. All ratios of
less than 2 indicate the condition
3.3
3
Z»l;\«3^ II1III/ / 1
2;2~
h < R. 3; 2
5.2-
^ //
1/ /
The results of laboratory and field
tests presented in Fig. 7 show a mini-
$
/,<yy//
/ /
1
/ / t
mum specific torque requirement for s '/.
forward rotation at D/h = 1.26 and / /Z = 3 ;
for reverse rotation at D/h — 1.38. For
these tests the overall minimum spe-
Uk V?>z
FTL/
^/ A^
— 2;5
2
X*3
cific energy requirement occurred at •|
D/h = 1.2 to 1.4 for forward rotation
and 1.1 to 1.25 for reverse rotation.
Three rotor diameters (160, 240, 320
mm) were used in these studies, and
ip
the researchers concluded that the rea- Fig. 6 Influence of depth numeric ( D / h ) on
son for the changing specific energy cutting path length numeric ( £ / h ) for different
numbers of blades per revolution (2) and
requirement with a change in D/h was values for X. The shaded zones show the mini-
the relationship between length of cut-
m u m values for £/h (Grinchuk and Matyashin,
ting path and volume of soil tilled per 1969)
1971 • TRANSACTIONS O F T H E ASAE
 4 He used an L-shaped blade with a
FORWARD
2.0h ROTATION T/h^-- width of cut equal to w to insure com-
plete undercutting. Multiplying the
20 previous equation by the number of
1.7 • slices cut per second and determining
10
^~-^L the volume or weight of material tilled
per second, an equation was developed
1.5 si for determining the specific (relative
to unit volume or weight) energy
• REVERSE
requirement:
ROTATION
3.5 L h-
30
J^—r^* Ws
^_______- -"" • whL
2.5H ; where L = tilling pitch
20
Sv^ h = depth
i "~~ • — — ^ «

1.5 ' *———

-_
-__• w = width of cut.
• 4.5
• Then the lower the ratio of cutting sur-
1.5 2.5 3.5
faces per unit volume, the lower the
D/h
required specific energy. He then
Fig. 7 Influence of D/h on rotor torque (T) and specific rotor torque shows:
(T/h) during forward and reverse rotation (Grinchuk and Matyashin,
1969) Ws *r
hR + c
where c is constant and R is the radius
tions regarding torque, depth, diameter, tv = width of slice of rotary-tiller drum,
cutting path length, etc. Loosening soil Ax = area of side surface of indicating that specific energy is in-
to a depth of 130 mm with a 160-mm soil slice versely proportional to the tilling pitch
diameter tiller (D/h — 1.23) required k = coefficient of propor- (L) and proportional to the value of
41 percent less energy than when using tionality characterizing X. Fig. 10 shows the agreement between
a 320-mm diameter tiller (D/h — the physical-mechanical calculated and experimental investiga-
2.46). properties of the cut tions of the relation between specific
Frevert (1940) determined theoreti- material in relation to energy requirement and X for three
cally an optimum value of the ratio of blade design, condition values of the ratio h per R. Suggested
D/h — 1.25, based on the length of of the cutting edge, and reasons for the increasing discrepancy
the soil-blade contact path and volume cutting velocity. between theoretical and measured val-
of soil tilled. Kelsey (1946) recognized
that although the value of the ratio of
D/h for greatest efficiency was 1.25
to 1.50, in practice the mechanical con-
struction (bearings, axle, drive shaft,
etc.) prevented operating at that depth.
Koszeghy (1964) examined the prob-
lem of rotary tillers "walking out" of
the ground at low ratios of peripheral
to forward velocity. After theoretically 350
studying the problem of depth of till-
age, he reached what appears to be 300
an unfounded conclusion based on the
radius of the hypothetical rolling circle 250
of a prolate cycloid (Fig. 9 ) . His sug-
gestion that the depth of tillage is lim- 200
ited to the difference between the
radius of the tiller rotor (R) and the 150
theoretical rolling circle ( r ) , (i.e.,
^max — & — r)> would attach physical
significance to the concept of the roll-
ing circle. According to this, the tiller D/h
could not operate at depths over Fig. 8 Experimental relationships found between rotor torque (T),
h = R. length of cutting (£/h) and specific power (N s /V) over a range of
ratios of D/h (Matyashin, 1968)
Serdechnyi and Grinchuk (1968), in
an analysis of the energy requirements
of rotary silage loaders, developed a
relationship to test the hypothesis that
the minimum ratio of cutting path
length to depth (t/h) would occur at
the point of maximum power efficiency.
He presents as a first approximation:
AW = k (tw + A x ) v = I m/sec v = 2m/sec
where AW = work to cut off one soil
Fig. 9 The geometry which Koszeghy proposed for determining the
slice maximum depth of operation (h) for a rotary tiller: h = R — r
I = length of cutting path (Koszeghy, 1964)
1971 • TRANSACTIONS OF THE ASAE 677

3.0
300
SZ
OL
- 200 1.5
100
100
Fig. 10 Comparison of calculated (solid line) and experimental (dashed
line) relations between specific energy (P s ), length of cutting versus
depth (£/h) and X (Serdechnyi, 1968)
ues as depth increased were: (a) during
an increase in depth the pulverization is
less intensive (requiring less energy)
and (h) at greater depths there is a
zone of shearing and sliding of the
slices (rather than cutting) which
would reduce energy input. (Soehne,
too, reported shearing required less
power than cutting, and a high ratio
of shear area per cut area was desirable.
It appears to be firmly established
that specific rotary energy requirements
are substantially reduced at tilling
depths of h ^ 0.75 D. Yet-in the
USSR, where most of the research was
done and where production and use of
machinery is centrally controlled, Yatsuk
(1969) in a recent discussion of rotary
tillers indicates no change from the
trend toward relatively shallow tillage.
Also, there is no apparent mention of
change to or any degree of utilization
of the reverse direction of rotation.
While there can be no question that
the technical problems involved in using
deep-running tillers are serious, there
seem to be ample indications that a
great potential exists for reducing the
power requirements by using this
technique.
Soil Pulverization Versus Depth
One of the main objectives of rotary
tillage is to break the soil into finer
size particles, and a change in depth
of operation should change clod size.
At a constant depth and pitch, either
increasing the rotor radius or reversing
the direction of rotation should cause
greater pulverization due to cutting off
a thinner cross section of material.
Increasing the depth of tillage would
678
150 200 250
X
increase the cross-sectional area. The
area of the soil slice (A) would be
changed for any of these methods. But
then, with deeper tillage, more blades
will pass through the area occupied
by a previously cut soil segment, and
the probability of the soil being recir-
culated is increased. Hence, the net
result with respect to clod size is
uncertain.
Furlong (1956) established no firm
trend regarding the effect of depth on
clod diameter. A plot of clod diameter
versus depth was made for the various
blades, for forward and reverse rota-
tion. The result showed no trend in
change of clod size due to an increase
of depth at low peripheral velocities,
and a general decrease in clod size
with increased depth at higher rotary
velocities. Yet, for specific blades there
were large changes in clod size with a
change in tilling depth, and some in-
creased and some decreased clod size
with greater depth. The information
provided by Billett (1959) shows a
slight trend to increase clod size with
greater depth. Both tilling pitch and
rotary speed appeared to have greater
influences on clod size, overall, than
did depth of operation.
The amount of pulverization then
appears to be more a function of soil
conditions or other system variables
(ratio of peripheral to forward velocity,
blade shape, shield shape and position,
etc.) than depth of operation. In reality
the "depth" of a rotary tool, when
compared with more conventional tools,
should probably be considered as the
radial thickness of the soil cut off with
each cut; this thickness is continually
changing with the rotation of each
blade, and goes from zero to a maximum
and back to zero with each cut.
CONCLUSIONS
Increasing the tillage depth increases
the total power requirement, but de-
creases the specific power requirement
in general. Optimum rotor diameter-to-
depth ratios appear to be in the range
of 1.1 to 1.4; this is where the mini-
mum specific energy requirement
occurs.
References
i Bernacki, Henry. 1962. Theory of the rotary
tiller. Inst, of Mech. and Elect, of Agric. in Warsaw,
Bui. No. 2, pp. 9-64. (P., E.)* §.
2 Billett, R. J. 1959. Rotary tiller performance test
on 18 and 14-in. diameter tines. Report No. 1149,
F.M.C. Corp., San Jose, Calif., May.
3 Dalin, A. D. and P. V. Pavlov. 1950. Rotary soil
working and excavating machines. Mashgiz, 258 pp.
(R., e.)t
4 Frevert, Richard K. 1940. Mechanics of tillage.
Unpublished M.S. thesis. Iowa State College, Ames.
5 Furlong, D. B. 1956. Rotary tiller performance
tests on existing tines. Technical report No. 1049,
F.M.C. Corp., San Jose, Calif., September.
6 Grinchuk, I. M., and Yu. I. Matyashin. 1969. The
problem of selecting basic construction parameters and
systems of operation of soil rotary tillers. Traktory
i Sel'khozmashiny, 1:25-28. (R., E., PB-184878T)*.
7 Hendrick, J. G. 1969. Depth, direction of rotation
and peripheral to forward velocity ratio as design param-
eters of rotary tillers. ASAE Paper 69-661, ASAE, St.
Joseph, Mich. 49085.
8 Hendrick, J. G. and W. R. Gill. 1971. Rotary
tiller design parameters, I: Direction of rotation.
Transactions of the ASAE, this issue.
9 Kelsey, C W. 1946. Rotary soil tillage. Agricultural
Engineering, p. 171-174, 1946.
10 Koszeghy, Geza. 1964. Some problems of research
with rotary tillers. Jarmiivek, Mezbgazdasagi Gepek,
Il(6):220-226. (H., E . ) t
11 Matyashin, Yu. I., and V. K. Zhurkin. 1968.
Parameters and operating characteristics of soil rotary
tiller. Vestnik Sel'Skokhozyaistvennoi Nauki No.
9:131-133- (R-, E., PB-185800T)*.
12 Mursch, B. 1957. Investigations on a rotary culti-
vator. Landtech. Forsch. 7(4):93- (G., e.)J.
13 Serdechnyi, A. N. and I. M. Grinchuk. 1968.
Basic design parameters and systems of operation of
rotary drums of silage loaders. Mech. i. Electrif. Sots.
Sel. Khoz. 2:17-19. (R., E., PB-180962T)*.
14 Tsuchiya, M. 1965. Studies on power tillers in
Japan (English translation). Yamagata Univ., Tsuruoka-
shi, Japan. Shin-Norin Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan.
15 Yatsuk, E. P. 1969. Rotary tilling tillage machines.
Mekh. i. Elektrif. Sots. Sel Khoz. 7:49-51. (R., e . ) t
* Paper has been translated and is available from
Federal Scientific & Technical Information, U. S.
Department of Commerce, Springfield, Va. 22151. (The
number is the translation number.)
t The article has been translated and a copy of the
translation is at the NTML.
% The article has an English summary, or portions
have been translated.
§ The letters in parentheses indicate: (a) First letter,
the original language if different from English (R =
Russian, P =• Polish, J = Japanese, G = German);
(b) second letter, the language into which it was
translated or summarized (E = full translation into
English, e = English summary).
1971 • TRANSACTIONS OF THE ASAE