Evaluation of Tractor Fuel Consumption Using Different Types of Paraploughs and Mouldboard Plough

Most of tillage research focuses on designing more efficient tools to operate with low energy consumption. Also, developing tools to preserve conservation tillage is a priority for researchers. The aim of the study was to compare a paraplough with and without wings with conventional mouldboard plough in terms of loosened area, fuel consumption, and specific fuel consumption. Field trials were conducted using an MF 285 tractor at three working depths of 10, 20, and 30 cm and at three forward speeds of 2, 5, and 7 km·h⁻¹ for conventional mouldboard plough, paraplough without wings, paraplough with backward-bent wings, and paraplough with forward-bent wings. Two flow sensors made by Oval Company in Japan were used to measure the fuel consumption of the tractor. The highest fuel consumption of 14.58 L·h⁻¹ occurred when using the mouldboard plough and the least fuel consumption of 5.849 L·h⁻¹was obtained using the paraplough without wings. Increasing travel speed and working depth increased fuel consumption significantly. Adding both backward- and forward-bent wings to the paraplough increased the loosened area by 17.25 and 7.4%, respectively. Also, adding wings increased specific fuel consumption by 54 and 74% in comparison with the paraplough without wings. Both loosened area and specific fuel consumption parameters showed using the backward-bent wing is more effective than the forward-bent wing in terms of energy efficiency. Using the backward- and forward-bent wings decreased specific fuel consumption by 34.1 and 18.7% in comparison with the mouldboard plough, respectively. It was concluded that for soil loosening using tines with wings is more effective in terms of energy saving.