Open AccessDevelopment of an electric hand tractor (e-Tractor) for agricultural operations
Author(s) -
Rossana Marie C. Amongo,
Erwin Quilloy,
Mark Angelo Ranches,
M.V.L. Larona,
M. S. Madlangbayan
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
iop conference series. earth and environmental science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1755-1307
pISSN - 1755-1315
DOI - 10.1088/1755-1315/542/1/012027
Subject(s) - tractor , agricultural machinery , plough , automotive engineering , agricultural engineering , agriculture , prime mover , engineering , agronomy , ecology , biology
The development of an e-Tractor for agricultural operations was conducted in response to innovative and environment-friendly technologies utilizing non-fossil fuel as a source of energy. Design considerations were taken from the Needs and Design Assessment (NADA) of the intended beneficiaries such as transport of agricultural product and/or for human mobility requirement and for plowing operations. The e-Tractor was designed with a 3-kW direct current electric motor as prime mover and 5.76 kWh battery system as the power source. The machine was tested for transport with trailer attachment using three speed settings (low-2 kph, medium-5 kph, high-7 kph) and three load settings (0 kg, 200 kg, and 400 kg). Test results showed that the e-Tractor can operate at an optimum setting of 7 kph with 287.8 kg load resulting in an operational time of 127.5 minutes and a travel distance of 14.33 km. The obtained field efficiency for the plowing operation using three trials was about 92.29% with a theoretical field capacity of 0.11 ha/h. The development of an operational electric hand tractor facilitates agricultural product mobility as an alternative RE Technology for plowing operation with minimal negative environmental impact.