Purpose
Operators of agricultural machines that drive on uneven surfaces are exposed to high levels of vibration for a long time because of their work characteristics. To improve the driver’s experience, research on designing suspension systems for tractors has been conducted to reduce ride vibrations.
Methods
In this study, half-tractor models with cabin rubber mounts, axle suspension systems, and cabin suspension systems were developed to determine the effects of the suspension system configuration. The conditions of tractor ride comfort simulation using half-tractor models were set to tractor speed 5 km/h and road step input of 0.05 m to determine the response in all frequency domains. The improvement in the driver’s experience was evaluated using the reduction in z-axis cabin acceleration.
Results
The simulation analysis in the time domain showed that the half-tractor model with the axle and cabin suspension system decreased the z-axis cabin acceleration by more than 50%. The maximum decrease in the z-axis cabin acceleration was 78.3% when cabin suspension was used in the front and rear. In addition, the simulation analysis in the frequency domain showed that the cabin suspension was effective to improve ride comfort in all frequency ranges, and axle suspension was effective to improve ride comfort in near 3 Hz.
Conclusion
The results of this study indicate that cabin suspension systems are more effective than axle suspension systems in reducing the ride vibration of a tractor.