LECTURE FIVE

TILLAGE TOOL DESIGN

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 Tillage Tool Design

Mouldboard plough

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 DRAWN DISC PLOUGH

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 PTO DRIVEN DISC PLOUGH

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 DISC HARROW

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 ROTARY TILLER

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 TILLAGE TOOL DESIGN: MOULD BOARD PLOUGH

❑ Fig. 1 shows a typical process diagram of a tillage tool

which performs the following functional processes:
1. Soil cutting,
2. Soil pickup,
3. Positioning of the cut soil, and
4. Depositing the cut soil.

Figure 1 . Functional processes of a tillage tool

(plough bottom)
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 Factors affecting Tillage Tool Design
❑ Tillage tool design is dependent on the factors that
contribute to variations in draft force, namely:

1. Soil type (i.e. sandy, loam, clay soils)

2. Soil Condition (i.e. moisture content, degree of

compaction).

3. Tool travel speed

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 Effect of Soil Type on Tillage Tool Design

❑ Specific draft for a tillage implement is the draft force

requirement per unit cross-sectional area of a tillage
tool/plough bottom.

✓ Lighter soils (e.g. sandy loam) have a smaller

magnitude of soil reaction forces resulting in
smaller specific draft.

✓ Heavier, thicker soils (e.g. silty clay) have

increased soil reaction forces resulting in
higher specific draft.

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 Effect of Soil Type on Tillage Tool Design

❑ Values of specific draft range from 1.4 to 2 N/cm2

for sandy soils.

❑ Sandy or silt loams may have specific drafts from

2 to 5 N/cm2, whereas 4 to 8 N/cm2 would be
typical for clay loams and heavy clay soils.

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 Effect of Soil Condition on Tillage Tool Design
❑ Soil condition can be defined in terms of the moisture
content and degree of compaction of the soil.
✓ Soils with low moisture content (dry soil) have higher
specific draft because of excessive soil reaction forces;
therefore, tillage in dry soils requires excessive power.
▪ Tillage in dry soil also accelerates wear of cutting edges.
▪ Increase in moisture content reduces specific draft.
✓ Highly compacted soils also have high specific draft.
▪ For the given soil conditions, the magnitude of
soil reaction forces is minimized by controlling
the tool shape.
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 Forces acting on a Tillage Tool
❑ A tillage implement moving at a constant speed is subjected to
three main forces that must be in equilibrium.
1. Force of gravity acting upon the implement (W).
2. Force acting between the implement and the tractor (P).
This is the pull of the power unit upon the implement
3. Draft force due to soil forces acting upon the implement:
(i) Useful soil forces (R): Forces a tool must overcome in
cutting, lifting, breaking (pulverizing) and turning soil.
(ii) Parasitic soil forces (Q): Forces due to friction and
rolling resistance that act upon stabilizing parts
such as landside and share of a plough or upon
supporting wheels.
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Forces acting on a Mouldboard Plough Bottom
✓ The pull of the
power unit (P)
must overcome the
draft force (D) and
implement weight
(W).
W ✓ Resultant of forces
subjected on the
tillage tool in
operation
constitutes the
resultant tractor
pull acting parallel
to the line of travel.

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 Draft, D
❑ Draft force (D) is equivalent to the horizontal component
of the pull (P) that is parallel to the line/direction of travel
of the implement. Draft is force required to pull a tillage
tool through the soil.

▪ Where,
D = Draft, N
P = Pull of plough, N
θ = Angle between line of pull and horizontal, degrees
❑ The draft force is located at the point called the hitch where the
tool is attached to the power unit (tractor or draft animals).
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 Total Draft Required by a Single Plough Bottom
❑ First, calculate the cross-sectional area of the cut soil slice
(Cross − sec tional Area of Furrow Slice) = (Width of plough bottom )

(Depth of ploughing)

❑ Specific draft is the draft force required to overcome the soil

resistance in cutting a unit area of the furrow slice at a given
speed.

✓ Total amount of draft for a single plough bottom is given as:

Total Draft of a single plough bottom = ( Specific Draft of Soil )

(Cross − sec tional Area of Furrow Slice)

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Total Draft Required by a Plough with Multiple Plough
Bottoms

❑ The total amount of draft required by a tillage

implement (plough) having multiple plough bottoms is
equal to the sum of the drafts of the individual plough
bottoms of the implement.

Total draft of the plough = (Total draft of a single plough bottom )


( Number of plough bottoms )

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Power Requirement of a Tillage Tool

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 Example: Calculation of Draft of a Mouldboard Plough

❑ A 16 inch wide mouldboard plough bottom ploughing 7 inches

deep at 5 mph in a moist sandy loam soil which has specific
draft of 6.4 pounds per square inch. Given that the plough has
four bottoms, calculate the total daft and power requirement of
the mouldboard plough.

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 Example: Calculation of Draft of a Mouldboard Plough

Conversion to metric units:

Draft = 2868 pounds = 12757.5N = 12.76 KN

Speed = 5 mph = 8.04672 km/hr

The drawbar power (kW) = Draft (KN) x speed (km/h)/ 3.6 s/h
Note: 3.6 s/h is a conversion factor for dimensional
homogeneity.
Thus, Drawbar power (kW) = 12.76 x 8.04672 = 28.52 kW =
38.24 hp.

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 Review on the three Tractor Power Ratings
1. Brake Horsepower (BHP): This is the maximum power a
tractor’s engine can develop; it is measured at the flywheel.
Not all of the brake horsepower is available to do work.
2. Power take-off (PTO) Horsepower: This is the stationary
power measured at the power take-off shaft and it is about
80% of the brake horsepower. This is a very useful quantity of
power.
3. Drawbar Horsepower (DBHP): This is a measure
of the pulling power of the engine by way of tires,
wheels, or tracks. As a percentage of the PTO
horsepower, the drawbar power varies depending on
soil surface characteristics and type of tractor.

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Estimation of Drawbar Horsepower of a Tractor (1)
❑ Depending on soil surface characteristics and type of tractor, Drawbar
power and PTO power can be estimated using values in the table below:
▪ If PTO power is known, available drawbar horsepower is estimated
by multiplying PTO power by appropriate value not in parentheses.
▪ If drawbar power is known, tractor PTO power is estimated by
multiplying drawbar power by appropriate value in parentheses.

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Estimation of Drawbar Horsepower of a Tractor (2)
❑ Note:
▪ For a given tractor type, drawbar horsepower (as a
percentage of the PTO power) decreases as the strength
of the contact surface decreases with a maximum for
concrete and a minimum for tilled soil.

▪ For a given surface type, drawbar horsepower increases

as the tractor contact surface area increases due to
differences in traction, e.g. by switching from a 2-wheel
drive to 4-wheel drive or tracks.

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 Drawbar Horse Power (DBHP)

❑ In tillage, most concern is put on the tractors drawbar

horsepower, although the PTO power is the most
quoted tractor power rating.
✓ Drawbar Horse Power is the power actually
required to overcome forces acting upon a tillage
tool and pull the implement at uniform speed.

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Typical Draft and Drawbar Power for different tillage tools
in different soil types

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Typical Operation Speeds for Different Implements
✓ Optimum field speed varies
according to the type of
tillage being done.

▪ Lower speeds are used for

primary tillage tools
(mouldboard plough and
heavy disc ploughs.

▪ Higher speeds are used for

harrows and rotary
cultivators that pulverize
the soil and produce finer
tilth for planting and weed
control.

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 COMPONENTS OF A TYPICAL TILLAGE IMPLEMENT

❑ A tillage implement consists of the following components.

1. Tillage Tool: A single tillage tool or group of tillage tools
which penetrate the soil mass and perform the tillage
operation.
2. Wheels (furrow & transport wheels): These support the
tillage tool during the tillage operation.
3. Frame: Supports the tillage tool and enhances attachment of
the tillage tool to the power source.
4. Hitch: Connects the implement to the power
source and serves the function of transmitting
forces and carrying the implement.

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 EXAMPLE: MOULDBOARD PLOUGH

Figure 3-11. Main parts of a mouldboard plough bottom

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 TILLAGE TOOL OF A MOULDBOARD PLOUGH
❑ Functions of the different parts of the mouldboard plough
bottom (tillage tool) include:

SN Part Function
1 Share This is the soil cutting component
2 Mouldboard This component inverts the cut soil (i.e. it pick-ups,
positions and deposits the soil)
3 Landside This component stabilizes the implement
4 Frog Holds the share, mould board and landside together

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❑ The width of an implement (wi) can be calculated
from the following formula :

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SUPPORT SYSTEMS OF A MOULDBOARD PLOUGH

Figure 3-14. Locations of the Three-Point Hitch, and Drawbar Hitch

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 HITCHES
❑ Traction power is transferred to tillage implements
through the hitch.
❑ Types of hitches used to connect an agricultural
implement to a tractor include:
1. Three-point hitch – Fully mounted or semi-mounted
2. Drawbar hitch – Drawn or pull type implements

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 HITCHES
❑ Dimensions of three-point hitches are standardized by American
Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE)/American Society of
Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE).

❑ Standardized hitch dimensions include:

1. Hitch pin diameters

2. Mast height (Distance between upper & lower hitch points)

3. Lower hitch point spread (Distance between the two lower

hitch points)

4. Location of drawbar hitch point relative to the PTO

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 HITCHES
❑ Fully mounted implements are attached to the tractor by upper
link and the two lower links so that the implement can be
carried entirely by the tractor.
❑ Semi-mounted implements are attached to the tractor by only
the two lower links of the three-point hitch and the ground
provides part of the implement support.
✓ A semi-mounted plough is supported at the front by the
tractor’s hitch and at the rear by the plough’s furrow
transport wheel.
❑ Drawn implements are attached to the tractor
by the drawbar hitch and the implement is
supported by its own transport wheels.

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 References
1. Ajit K. Srivastava, Caroll E. Goering, Roger P. Rohbach, and
Dennis R. Buckmaster, 2006. Engineering Principles of
Agricultural Machinery, ASABE.

2. Ibrahmi A., Bentaher H., Hbaieb M., Maalej A., and Mouazen
A.M., 2015. Study the effect of tool geometry and operational
conditions on mouldboard plough forces and energy requirement:
Part 1. Finite element simulation. Computers and Electronics in
Agriculture, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2015.08.006

3. CRC, 1988. Vol. 1: Crop Production Engineering. In CRC

Handbook in Agriculture, Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press

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