A low-cost wheel slip measurement device for agricultural tractors

Abstract

Tractor wheel slip affects the traction of a tractor, fuel efficiency and tyres adversely, along with compaction of the soil. Tractor operators cannot sense the slip unless it continues for some significant time. In the present study, a low-cost slip measuring device and an indicator were developed at ICAR-IARI, New Delhi (2018) and installed on the tractor dashboard for the operator’s information. It warns the operator about slip both by visual and auditory signals to adjust the driving accordingly. In this study, four different sensors (Inductive proximity sensor, IR sensor, Hall effect sensor, and Photo-electric sensor) were tested for measurement of rotational speed under different working conditions of light and dust. Hall effect sensor was found the best for all the operational conditions. So, a low-cost slip measuring device was developed with the Hall effect sensor integrated with a microcontroller as a retrofit for tractors. The device was mounted on the tractor, and field experiments were conducted. The results obtained from the developed device showed that the values were statistically close to actual values.

Keywords

• Microcontroller
• Proximity sensor
• Slip estimation
• Slip indicator
• Tractor wheel slip