Investigation of wide span vehicle technological part suspension system compacting impact on soil

One of the most important tasks of Controlled Traffic Farming (CTF) was and remains elimination of the compacting effect on the soil in the fruit-bearing zone of the field of the supporting running systems of agricultural machines, acting as a technological part of Wide Span Vehicles. The problem is that if semi-mounted agricultural machines are incorrectly connected to them, there may not be a decrease but, on the contrary, an increase in the compacting effect of the support running systems of the technological part in the fruit-bearing zone of the field. The influence of the parameters of the mounted devices and the connection scheme of the technological part to the Wide Span Vehicle on the compacting effect of its running systems on the soil in the fruit-bearing zone of the field has not been sufficiently studied. The process of redistribution of vertical reactions on the support wheels of the running systems of the technological part of the Wide Span Vehicle from the angles of inclination of the rods of its hinged mechanism remains practically unstudied today. The purpose of the research is to study the compacting effect of the Wide Span Vehicle running systems in the fruit-bearing zone of the field in order to optimally configure its mounting mechanism. Theoretical studies, synthesis of the design diagrams and parameters of the Wide Span Vehicle were carried out by modelling on a PC the conditions of its operation, using the basic principles of theoretical mechanics and tractor theory. Experimental investigations were conducted, using both generally accepted and developed methods, and included the use of modern control and measuring equipment. Processing of experimental data was performed on a PC, using regression analysis. The physical object of the experimental research was Wide Span Vehicles with a track width of 3.5 m. As a result of the research it was established that, in order to ensure a minimum vertical load on the support wheel of the Wide Span Vehicle agricultural machine and, as a result, minimum soil compaction in the fruit-bearing zone of the CTF field, the adjustment of its mounted mechanism should be made with a positive angle of inclination of the central link, which in absolute value must be positive and less than the angle of inclination of the lower links. But, in addition, it is desirable to achieve negative angles of inclination of the lower links of the Wide Span Vehicles linkage mechanism. The installation height of the Wide Span Vehicle linkage also affects the amount of vertical reaction on the support wheel of the agricultural machine. Therefore, in practice the choice of a compromise solution between the values of these parameters should be made according to the proposed algorithm. The work proves that, when designing agricultural machines for their aggregation with Wide Span Vehicles, the longitudinal coordinate of the support wheel installation should be as small as possible. The conducted experimental investigations confirm the adequacy of the theoretical calculations, so they can be used in the design of Wide Span Vehicles or direct adjustment of their mounted mechanisms in production conditions.