Drivetrain, chassis and tire-soil contact influence on power shift operations in standard tractors

Abstract

Today, electro-hydraulic gearshift actuation systems offer a wide range of opportunities to optimize power shift behavior and therefore handling comfort of tractors. However, the parameter application process is very time consuming, especially with regard to increasing comfort demands. To reduce the time consumption and to increase the repeatability of the parameter application process, it is promising to transform the process from field tests to test benches. One main requirement for the transformation is to adjust the dynamic drivetrain behavior on the bench until it is comparable with tractor field operations. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the influence of the tire-soil contact, the chassis design and the drivetrain design on power shift operations. Within this article, the influences are analyzed with the help of a complete tractor simulation model which is based on a CLAAS Axion 800 Hexashift. The resulting effects are evaluated by tractor driving speed, transmission output speed and transmission output torque.