SURVEY AND ANALYSIS OF FUEL CONSUMPTION OF POPULAR GASOLINE-TYPE AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY IN TAIWAN

摘要

Taiwan is a highly dependent area for energy import. The fuel consumption of agricultural machinery not only influences on the cost of agricultural production, but also on the policy of energy and environment conservation. Thus, fuel consumption has been a considerable issue for farmers, government agent, and manufactures. Totally, there were 1071 samples from farmers were surveyed here, regarded to agricultural machines used gas engine, for instance, cultivator, power sprayer, rice transplanter, agronomic transporter, and mower. Fuel consumption was analyzed in labeled, surveyed, and recorded aspects, in addition to yearly fuel consumption. Results showed that surveyed fuel consumptions for unit power were 268 c. c. /ps-h for rice transplanter, 259 c. c. /ps-h for cultivator, 412 c. c. /ps-h for mower, 530 c. c. /ps-h for power sprayer, and 233 c. c. /ps-h for agronomic transporter, respectively. This result demonstrated the effects of machine type in fuel consumption as well. Meanwhile, in 5% significant test, there was no difference among labeled, surveyed, and recorded fuel consumption for rice transplanter, but significant difference between labeled and surveyed was shown after cultivator. The specification and performance of machines, field condition and the operator's skill might cause these effects.