Design, Construction and Evaluation of an Interchangeable Digital System to Measure Slip and Ground Speed of Existing 2WD Tractors in Iran

The majority of existing tractors in Iran are not equipped with any tools to measure and display slip and ground speed. This is mainly due to the lack of national standards for measuring tools and instruments of tractors. In current research, an interchangeable system for two wheel drive tractors has been designed. Furthermore, it has been assessed after construction. To measure actual and theoretical ground speed, four rotary encoders for sensing the rotation of front and rear wheels have been utilized. Slip and ground speed were measured by means of software which has been developed in an ATmega16PU microprocessor. The measured slip and speed are digitally displayed on tractor dashboard. To evaluate the performance of the system, the measured values of ground speed and slip were compared with their calculated values obtained from conventional method. The Micro-controller has been programmed in such a way that the effect of front wheel sliding on slip is eliminated. In all evaluation conditions (in field and on asphalt), the maximum difference between system measurements for slip and speed and calculated slip and speed via conventional method was 2.4% and 0.2 km h-1, respectively. With slight alteration this system can be fitted on any kind of exiting two wheel drive tractors in the country

Construction and Assessment of an on the Go Soil Electrical

The issue of soil salinity is one of the snags for increasing agricultural productivity, which must be inhibited by appropriate devise and scientific management. One way to identify salty areas of farm lands is to prepare salinity maps. In this study, a prototype soil apparent electrical conductivity measuring and mapping device, was designed and built. This device employs direct contact method of electrodes with soil (Also called Wenner method). The system inputs include power supply voltage, location signal from a GPS receiver and signal of voltage between the electrodes. The outputs include the apparent electrical conductivity with respective to geographical coordinate that created in a TEXT file, and then transmitted through a RS-232 serial port to a PC. Electrical conductivity data calibrated and mapped using ESAP-95 software package. To evaluate the device, electrical conductivity map of a land with area of 0.8 Ha surveyed in two ways: using the on the go EC mapper and capturing soil samples manually. The results of these two methods were then compared. Assessment of the device in a clay-loamy soil with low salt level, showed a good correlation with the laboratory EC, having mean error (ME) of -15.27μS.cm-1. Point to point comparison between surveyed data and laboratory EC’s shown that in 67 percent of measurements the errors were under 10 percent. These errors are acceptable mainly due to unknown soil variables and in comparison with other research findings

The Effect of Vegetation Coverage and Greenhouse Area on the Performance of an Earth-to-Air Heat Exchanger in Cooling Mode of Greenhouse

The underground temperature at a depth of about three to four meters is almost constant during the year. As a result in summer the underground is cooler than the ambient temperature. This potential is considered for greenhouse cooling by using an Earth-to-Air Heat Exchanger (EAHE). In this research the effects of two parameters were investigated: a) the area of greenhouse in three levels of 9, 18, 27 m2 and b) the percent of vegetation coverage inside the greenhouse in three levels of 0%, 50%, 100% on the performance of EAHE. The experimental design was factorial experiment in a randomized complete block design. The parameters of greenhouse’s inside temperature, thermal energy exchange and coefficient of performance (COP) were considered in cooling mode. As one of the remarkable results it was observed that the closed loop utilization of the system was infeasible in cooling mode. This was mainly due to the occurrence of vapor distillation inside the underground pipes and hence the blockages of the air flow. Also the effect of area and the percent of vegetation coverage were significant on the performance of EAHE. The highest average temperature difference between the temperature of testimonial greenhouse and the temperature of greenhouse was observed in treatment of 100% vegetation coverage and 9 m2 floor area which was measured as 9.6°C. The least average temperature difference in the treatment without vegetation coverage and 27 m2 floor area was measured as 5.2 °C. Considering thermal energy exchange in cooling greenhouse with open loop, the best treatment determined for EAHE in this research was the one with 9 m2 floor area and 100% of vegetation coverage