Performance of New Design Mouldboard Plough Model (Double Sided Plough) in a Soil Bin

Year 2014, Volume: 10 Issue: 3, 195 - 198, 01.06.2014

Gholamreza Ghahramanıan Engin Çakır , Jacek Klonowskı Aleksander Lısowskı

Abstract

Mouldboard plough is common tillage tool tool in the traditional tillage system by

farmers in the world. Single-sided moldboard ploughs (SMP) are used widely for conventional

tillage. But, SMP forms ridges or open furrows in the field due to its way of entering to the field

which causes deformation in the field leveling. Unnecessary empty turns of SMP decreases not only

the efficiency of the plough but also increases the fuel consumption. To avoid the disadvantages of

SMP, reversible mouldboard plough (RMP) is used by farmers. But RMP requires high power

tractors due to its heavy structure (2 ploughs in the same frame). Beside its heavy structure, RMP

are quite expensive to buy comparing the prices of SMP. The advantages of SMP are low buying

price and not requiring high power tractors, but they have also disadvantages like causing

deformation in the field leveling, high fuel consumptions and low efficiency comparing the RMP.

New mouldboard plough was designed to avoid disadvantages but at the same time to gain

advantages of both SMP and RMP. This new design plough was named Double Sided

Mouldboard Plough (DSMP) can invert the soil in both directions of the tractor like RMP does.

DSMP has similar number of plough body like SMP and does not require a high power tractor. Due

to its light structure, DSMP removes the disadvantages of RMP while maintains the advantages of

both SMP and RMP.

The objective of this research was to evaluate the performance of DSMP and compare the results

with two different models SMP in a soil bin. For this purpose, one half scale of single bottom DSMP

model was constructed and tested in the soil bin with 10% moisture content located in the

department of farm machinery, Warsaw Agricultural Faculty, Warsaw, Poland. Tillage quality and

specific draft of the DSMP at different travel speed were measured for the performances of the

model plough in the soil bin. The results were compared with previously made experiment in which

similar models of SMP used in the same soil bin with 14% moisture content. According to the

results, DSMP can be used effectively as an alternative to the SMP and RMP in the field conditions

once its frame properly designed.

Keywords

Conventional tillage, mouldboard plough, reversible plough, double sided plough, plough models, tillage

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