Rotary Tiller Design Parameters Part IV-

Blade Clearance Angle

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

T H E p r o p e r design o f t h e inter-
related c u t t i n g a n d clearance angles
of r o t a r y tiller blades is essential t o effi-
cient o p e r a t i o n . As t h e effective c u t t i n g
angle is increased from some m i n i m u m
value, t h e p o w e r r e q u i r e m e n t s of t h e til-
ler and the a m o u n t of soil pulverizing,
t h r o w i n g , a n d mixing are increased
(Baqiciu 1 9 7 0 ; Broad a n d C o t t o n 1 9 6 4 ;
Have lee 1 9 6 6 ; Kaufman a n d Butler
1 9 6 6 ; L u k ' y a n o v 1 9 6 9 , 1 9 7 1 ; Matsuo
1 9 6 1 ; P o p o v 1 9 6 3 ; Soene 1 9 5 7 :
Yoshida 1 9 6 5 ) .
T h e m i n i m u m value t h a t t h e appar-
e n t a p p r o a c h angle, 9 0 — 7 0 (see
Fig. 1), can take is limited b y t h e blade
sharpening angle (|3) a n d t h e a p p a r e n t
clearance angle (5). If 5 is t o o small, t h e
b a c k of the blade will press i n t o u n c u t
soil, which will cause an increase in t h e CIRCUMFERENCE
power r e q u i r e m e n t , a t e n d e n c y b y the
tiller t o " w a l k o u t " of the soil, and u n - TO TROCHOID
due c o m p a c t i o n of t h e u n c u t soil. Un-
f o r t u n a t e l y , t h e effective clearance an-
gle (5 ) is a function of a n u m b e r of OA Effective length of the sharpened edge, mm.
OB Effective length of the blade, mm.
design variables, and it varies t h r o u g h - R Radius of the cutting edge at " 0 " mm.
o u t t h e cycle of r o t a t i o n of the b l a d e . Sharpening angle of the blade, deg
Simply establishing o n e c o n s t a n t clear- Apparent cutting angle.
ance angle t h a t will be effective u n d e r ^ 0 ~ A5 Effective cutting angle, deg
6 Apparent clearance angle (deg) between OA and the tan-
all c o n d i t i o n s is n o t possible.
gent to the rotor circumference when 5' = 0.
Most of t h e a u t h o r s w h o have pre- 5' Effective clearance angle (deg) between OA and a tangent
sented theoretical analyses for d e t e r m i n - to the trochoidal path at " 0 " when b" = 0.
ing t h e effective clearance angle for r o - Actual clearance angle (deg) between OA and a point oppo-
tary tiller blades have o m i t t e d one or site A on the trochoidal path.
AS Angle (deg) between* circumference and trochoidal path at
more i m p o r t a n t p a r a m e t e r s , a n d n o n e "0".
of t h e m have p r e s e n t e d e x p e r i m e n t a l
confirmation of t h e values p r e d i c t e d FIG. 1 Kinematics of a rotary tiller blade. This figure illustrates a
cross section of the blade in a plane perpendicular to the tiller shaft
( B a b i c i u 1 9 7 0 ; Bok 1 9 6 4 ; Havelec and in the line of motion (NTML Photo No. P-10,222el).
1 9 6 6 ; Kanarev a n d D o n t s o v 1 9 6 7 ;
L u k ' y a n o v 1 9 6 9 , 1 9 7 1 ; Melikhov 1 9 7 2 ;
OBJECTIVES 3 T o present a simple t e c h n i q u e
Soehne 1 9 7 1 ) . Some references include
for d e t e r m i n i n g t h e necessary a p p a r e n t
calculations for tillers having b o t h for- N o i n f o r m a t i o n has b e e n available in
clearance angle t o be used for design
w a r d and reverse r o t a t i o n s . Only the the English language literature w h i c h
purposes.
forward direction of r o t a t i o n of conven- provides a m e t h o d for d e t e r m i n i n g t h e
tional tillers having a h o r i z o n t a l trans- m i n i m u m value for the a p p a r e n t clear-
METHODS
verse axis will be considered h e r e . ance angle (5). This p a r a m e t e r has been
d e t e r m i n e d b y trial a n d error in t h e Three m e t h o d s for d e t e r m i n i n g clear-
past. T h e objectives of this research ance angles theoretically were c o m p a r e d
were: b y w o r k i n g an example p r o b l e m w i t h
1 T o review t h e foreign literature each. T w o of these m e t h o d s were devel-
Article was submitted for publication in o p e d by L u k ' y a n o v ( L u k ' y a n o v 1 9 6 9 ;
April 1973; reviewed and approved for publi- which presents theoretical analyses for
cation by the Power and Machinery Division determining the a p p a r e n t clearance an- 1 9 7 1 ) a n d Babiciu et al ( 1 9 7 0 ) , respec-
of ASAE in August 1973.
The authors are: JAMES G. HENDRICK, gle tively. T h e t h i r d was developed b y t h e
Agricultural Engineer, and WILLIAM R. 2 T o confirm t h e t h e o r e t i c a l analy- a u t h o r of this r e p o r t , Hendrick ( 1 9 7 1 a ) .
GILL, Director, National Tillage Machinery
Laboratory, ARS, USD A, Auburn, Ala. ses A c o m p u t e r program was developed

4 T R A N S A C T I O N S of t h e A S A E - 1974

L6
rm=0.35,0.25,0.l5
0.4
0.5 1.0
FIG. 2 Graph showing the value of the coefficient C to use in
Luk'yanov's analysis as a function of tillage depth (h/R) and m
(NTML Photo No. P-10,222f).
by t h e a u t h o r and used t o calculate ana-
lytically t h e m i n i m u m a p p a r e n t clear-
ance angles (5) for a wide range of tiller
designs a n d operating c o n d i t i o n s . T h e
calculations o b t a i n e d were used to de-
velop t h e a u t h o r ' s theoretical t e c h n i q u e .
A blade p a t h simulator was t h e n de-
signed a n d c o n s t r u c t e d t o graphically re-
p r o d u c e the p a t h s of p o i n t s (trochoids)
on a r o t a r y tiller blade (Hendrick 1 9 7 2 ) .
This simulator was used t o confirm ex-
perimentally the analytical calculations
of all three of the m e t h o d s c o m p a r e d .
Description of Methods Compared
Luk'yanov's method: L u k ' y a n o v de-
rived the following e q u a t i o n s t o calcu-
late t h e a p p a r e n t clearance angle (Fig.
1 Calculate m = 1/X _y i n d
~u
h/R
2 Determine h c = R ( l — m) = the
d e p t h at which A5 is a m a x i m u m
3 If h c < h, calculate A 5 m a x =
Tan" 1 m ance angle (where 5 = 0) required for a
2 1 2
(1--m ) '
I f h c > h , calculate
[n(2-n )]1/2
AS = Tan" 1
-n)
4 Calculate 5 '= Sin
2CR
(determine the numerical value of C
from Fig. 2) Also,
[m 2 + 1 - 2m(l - n ) ] 3 / 2
r=
m ( l — n)
1 9 7 4 - T R A N S A C T I O N S of the A S A E
,X=I.7
b
/R 0.5 0.3! 0 j
• I 1 1 1—II
1.5 h/R
FIG. 3 The nomogram developed by Babiciu to calculate clearance
angle 90 deg — £ as a function of blade leading edge (sweep) angle (JU),
apparent cutting edge length (b'), effective length (b) [e.g., OA or OB
in Fig. 1 ] , rotor radius (R), and velocity ratios (X) (NTML Photo No.
P-10,222d).
5 Calculate 5 + 5 " = A5 + 5 ' +" 5 "
(assume a value of 1 deg —3 deg for 5 " )
6 Calculate 5 „
Sin -1
2R(m-l)^
7 If 8 ' m a x + 5 " > 5 + 5 " , use t h e
larger sum.
Babiciu's method: Babiciu used a
theoretical analysis t o develop a n o m o -
gram for determining t h e clearance an-
gle. In t h e n o m o g r a m (Fig. 3 ) , the range
of values for the blade leading edge
(sweep) angle (/x) is limited, b u t one can
use the p r o p e r value for b and progress
w i t h o u t difficulty. The value of 0 m u s t
be a d d e d t o Babiciu's answer. A limita-
tion t o this a p p r o a c h is t h a t t h e calcu-
lated clearance angle is for the maxi-
m u m value; i.e., at a tillage d e p t h = h
or deeper.
Hendrick's method: Using a different
a p p r o a c h t o the analysis of t h e p r o b l e m ,
Hendrick developed the graphs in Fig. 4
t o show t h e m i n i m u m a p p a r e n t clear-
range of values of t h e p a r a m e t e r s X, b ,
R, and h . T h e graphs are presented as
dimensionless ratios of the p a r a m e t e r s .
Graph A in Fig. 4 gives t h e m i n i m u m
a p p a r e n t clearance angle required t o
provide clearance (5 ^ 0) for any
d e p t h of tillage. T h e graph also shows
the critical height ( h c ) ; w h e n the tillage
d e p t h is less t h a n h c , a smaller a p p a r e n t
clearance angle is r e q u i r e d . Graphs B
and C are for d e t e r m i n i n g a p p a r e n t
clearance angles at tillage d e p t h s of
0.2R a n d 0.4R. When t h e tillage d e p t h
(h) is some value o t h e r t h a n 0.2R, 0.4R,
90vX=3
¥
b'(mm)
b(mm)
or h c , t h e n the a p p a r e n t clearance an-
gle m u s t be i n t e r p o l a t e d .
Example Problems
F o r the example p r o b l e m s , the three
theoretical m e t h o d s were used t o calcu-
late values for t h e m i n i m u m a p p a r e n t
clearance angle ( 5 , w h e r e 5 = 0 ) for a
h y p o t h e t i c a l tiller b l a d e . T h e p a r a m e t e r
values assumed for the p r o b l e m s w e r e :
Blade radius R = 2 8 0 m m , effective cut-
ting edge length O A = 25 m m , effective
blade length OB = 64 m m , tillage d e p t h
= critical height = h c = 2 1 0 m m , and X =
4.
Luk'yanov's method: T h e e q u a t i o n s
presented previously a n d t h e assumed
parameters were used t o calculate clear-
ance angles. T h e dashed lines in Fig. 2
s h o w t h a t t h e value for C in
L u k ' y a n o v ' s e q u a t i o n [4] is 0.97. After
solving the e q u a t i o n s , it was found t h a t
the m i n i m u m a p p a r e n t clearance angle
(5) for t h e c u t t i n g edge (OA) was 17.7
deg a n d for t h e tiller blade (OB), 21.7
deg.
Babiciu's method: Babiciu's n o m o -
gram (Fig. 3) and the e x a m p l e p r o b l e m
parameters were used t o d e t e r m i n e val-
ues for the a p p a r e n t clearance angles of
the sharpened edge (OA) and t h e t o t a l
blade (OB). The n o m o g r a m was e n t e r e d
on the b axis at O A = 25 m m ( d o t t e d
lines) a n d at "OB = 6 4 m m (dashed
lines). T h e lines were t h e n c o n s t r u c t e d
counterclockwise t o R = 28Q X = 4 , X =
4 a n d £. This m e t h o d resulted in a mini-
m u m clearance angle of 19 deg for t h e
cutting edge a n d 23.5 deg for t h e tiller
blade.
5
 CRITICAL HEIGHT, h c AS A FUNCTION OF RADIUS.R
5R .66R 75R .8QR .85R .9R
. . .
TILLAGE DEPTH >

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
RATIO OF PERIPHERAL TO FORWARD VELOCITY.X

UJ
40
-J
FIG. 5 The blade path simulator developed to plot paths of points on
a rotary tiller blade (NTML Photo No. M-10,279d).
< 30
UJ
o
2£
< 20
analysis (within ± 0 . 5 deg), and required
less time.
Experimental confirmation of the
o graphs given in Fig. 4, as obtained by
^ 10
using the blade path simulator (Fig. 5),
UJ showed that the curves in Fig. 4 were
<
a.
ut
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 correct within the accuracy of the simu-
OL RATIO OF PERIPHERAL TO FORWARD VELOCITY, X lator ( ± 1 . 0 deg). This finding confirms
< the validity of the theoretical analyses.
The blade path simulator was also used
40r to confirm that the critical height h c =
R(l-m).

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

if a rotary tiller is designed to be op-
erated at some tillage depth that is less
t h a n t h e critical height ( h c ) ,
Luk'yanov's equations and the charts in
Fig. 4 are m o r e applicable than
Babiciu's method, since Babiciu's nomo-
'2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. gram is applicable to that depth only.
RATIO OF PERIPHERAL TO FORWARD VELOCITY, X
For instance, at a tillage depth (h) of
FIG. 4 Curves developed for calculating necessary apparent clearance 0.2R = 56 mm, Babiciu's nomogram
angle (6) as a function of peripheral and forward velocities (X) and the would indicate a value of the apparent
effective blade edge length (b) for a rotary tiller blade having radius clearance angle (5) of 5 deg larger than
R. Illustration A is for any tillage depth > hQ and shows the critical necessary for the example worked out.
height (h ) at which 6 is a maximum. Illustration B shows the re- A rotary tiller can be operated under
quired 6 for a tillage depth of 0.4R. Illustration C shows the required
6 for a tillage depth of 0.2R (NTML Photo Nos. P-10,222b, conditions beyond those for which it
P-10,222c, and P-10,222a). was designed; for example, blades can
be designed to provide adequate clear-
Hendrick's method: Curves in Fig. It is generally recommended that 5 be ance for shallow cultivation, but the op-
4A and the example problem parame- 1 deg to 5 deg (Luk'yanov 1969; Broad erator may use it at a greater depth,
ters were used to determine apparent and Cotton 1964). which would require a larger clearance
clearance angles. The curves were en- All three theoretical techniques in- angle. Therefore, it may be desirable to
tered at X = 4 and a vertical line was clude some graphical solution to reduce design blades for adequate clearance at
drawn to intersect with b/R ratios of their complexity (unless the constant C the critical height (h c ). Also, since small
0.09 and 0.23 for cutting edge and tiller is calculated in Luk'yanov's analysis); values of X require large apparent clear-
blade widths, respectively. Lines pro- they are, therefore, subject to some de- ance angles, it may be desirable for ade-
jected from those points to the verti- gree of error. quate clearance in the worst situation
cal axis resulted in apparent clearance (minimum anticipated ratio of peripher-
RESULTS al velocity:forward velocity, X). How-
angles of 17.2 deg for the cutting edge
(dotted line) and 21.6 deg for the tiller Luk'yanov's analysis provided the ever, it should be realized that increas-
blade (dashed line). To these clearance most precise result, but was the most ing rotary velocity or decreasing for-
angle values for all three methods should time consuming. The graphs in Fig. 4 ward velocity from the worst situation
be added some additional clearance (5 ). provided the same result as Luk'yanov's will increase blade clearance.

6 TRANSACTIONS of the ASAE - 1974

 It should be kept in mind that once
the back of the cutting edge of a blade
is worn while being operated at a high
rotary velocity:low forward velocity ra-
tio (high X), the use of the blade at a
lower X condition will result in a nega-
tive effective clearance along the worn
surface. In addition, if a blade should
become worn while tilling at a shallow
depth, the back of the sharpened edge
will have a negative effective clearance
angle when operated. under the same
conditions but at a greater depth.
References
1 Babiciu, P.,-T. Casandroiu, I. Cristea,
V. Scripnic, and Ch. Stoicescu. 1970. The
study of the interdependence between the
constructive and kinematic parameters of ro-
tary tiller blades. Studii si Cercetari de Me-
chanica Agricola IV(3): 227-237.
2 Bernacki, H. 1962. Theory of the ro-
tary tiller. Institute of Mechanization and
Electrification of Agriculture in Warsaw, Bui.
No. 2:9-64. (P., E.)t
3 Bok, N. B. 1964. Determination of
the angle of mounting of working tools of
rotary tillers. Traktory i Sel'khozmashiny,
34(9):23-24. (R., E., PB-178213T)*
4 Broad, B. A. and R. D. Cotton.
1964. The performance of a rotary soil cutter
in pulverizing a cohesive soil prior to stabiliz-
ing with cement. Roads and Road Construc-
tion, 44:350-353 and 398-402.
5 Dalin, A. D. P. V. Pavlov. 1950. Ro-
tary soil cultivating and excavating machines.
MASHGIZ, 248 pp. (R., E., TT70-50041)*
6 Gill, W. R. and G. E. Vanden Berg.
1967. Soil dynamics in tillage and traction.
Agriculture Handbook No. 316, ARS, USD A,
511 pp.
7 Havelec, S. 1966. Effects of the
shape of the working elements of rotary tillers
on the power requirements. Zemedelska Tech-
nika, 12 (XXXIX):301-309. ( C , E.)f
8 Hendrick, J. G. 1970. An annotated
bibliography on rotary tillage tools. Available
from the National Tillage Machinery Labora-
*Paper has been translated and is available
from National Technical Information Service,
Operations Division, Springfield, Virginia
22151. (The number is the translation num-
ber)
tThe article has been translated and a loan
copy of the translation is available from the
National Tillage Machinery Laboratory.
1974 - TRANSACTIONS of the ASAE
tory, Auburn, Alabama 36830.
9 Hendrick, J. G. 1971a. Miscella-
neous rotary tillage activities. 1970-1971 An-
nual Report, National Tillage Machinery Lab-
o r a t o r y , A u b u r n , Alabama 36830, pp.
2-17/21.
10 Hendrick, J. G. 1971b. A recom-
mended nomenclature for rotary tillage tools.
National Tillage Machinery laboratory, Au-
burn, Alabama 36830, 8 pp.
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rotary tillage activities. 1971-1972 Annual
Report, National Tillage Machinery Labora-
tory, Auburn, Alabama 36830, pp. 2-1/2.
12 Hendrick, J. G. and W. R. Gill.
1971a. Rotary tiller design parameters, I: Di-
rection of rotation. TRANSACTIONS of the
ASAE 14(4): 669-674 and 683.
13 Hendrick, J. G. and W. R. Gill.
1971b. Rotary tiller design parameters, II:
Depth of tillage. TRANSACTIONS of the
ASAE 14(4): 675-678.
14 Hendrick, J. G. and W. R. Gill.
1971c. Rotary tiller design parameters, III:
Ratio of peripheral and forward velocities.
TRANSACTIONS of t h e ASAE
14(4):679-683.
15 Kaufman, L. C. and B. J. Butler.
1966. Increment of cut and rake angle inter-
action during granular incorporation by ro-
tary tillage. ASAE Paper No. 66-114, ASAE,
St. Joseph, Mich. 49085.
16 Kanarev, F. M. and V. B. Dontsov.
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E., PB—194992T)*
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E.)t
18 Luk'yanov, A. D. 1969. Determina-
tion of the mounting angle of rotary tools.
Traktory i Sel'khozmashiny, No. 9:20-22.
(R., E., PB-194839T)*
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21 Melikhov, V. V. 1972. Selection of
the angle of mounting of L-shaped rotary till-.
$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 = Ja-
panese, G = German); (b) second letter, the
language into which it was translated or sum-
marized (E = full translation into English, e =
English summary).
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(R., E., PB-196299T)*
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and high speed systems of operation of rotary
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NOMENCLATURE _
b = Effective length (i.e., OA or OB)
(mm), a function of ji.
h' - Length of OA or OB (measured
perpendicular to the cutting
edge.
C = Functional relation between the
radius of trochoid p and the ra-
dius of circle R.
h = Depth of tillage, mm.
hc = Critical height (measured verti-
cally from the bottom of the
blade path), where 5' is a maxi-
mum, mm.
X = Ratio of peripheral velocity of
blade edge to machine forward
velocity.
m = l/\.
n = h/R.
u = Peripheral velocity of cutting
edge, m per sec.
v = Forward velocity, m per sec.
JJL = Blade leading edge (sweep) angle
(deg) between the radial projec-
tion of a line tangent to the cut-
ting edge and the rotor center-
line .
£ = 9 0 deg - 5
90° — 7 Q = Apparent approach angle (deg)
between the radius "R" and the
blade surface.
7