EVALUATION OF ROTARY TILLAGE PERFORMANCE USING RESIN-MADE BLADE BY 3D-PRINTER

摘要

The shape of the blade influences the required energy and the tillage performance of the rotary tiller. The blade is fabricated using a metal mold, therefore, the production of different types for the blade performance test is not realistic. In this study, resin-made blades fabricated by 3D-printer were investigated to figure out whether this would be a simpler method to test and evaluate the blade performance. Five different shapes of the blades were designed. The tillage performances were compared between the product blade and the replica blade. The performances among the five resinmade blades were also investigated. The soil throwing performance of the blade was observed, and the required torque and the rotational speed of the rotary axle were measured. The tests of the resin-made blades showed expected results. The soil throwing performance of the product blade was very similar to that of the replica blade. The required torque increased with the height of the blade. The angle of the soil throwing increased as the bending angle became smaller. It can be concluded that the resin-made blade could be used to evaluate the performance of the blade during the designing stage which would contribute to the development of the blade.