Design and traction performance of movable lug wheel equipped with lug spring mechanisms

Abstract

A movable lug wheel has been designed to improve the traction performance of two wheel tractor in wet rice field. Each lug plate of the lug wheel was equipped with lug spring mechanisms so that the lug plate could swing to the optimum inclination angle for producing the bigger traction force. The movable lug wheel was 85 cm in diameter, had 14 lugs (8 cm width x 35 cm length) which was equipped with a pair of torsion type springs. A set of field test has been conducted using a two wheel tractor equipped with the movable lug wheel for plowing a wet rice field plot in Cianjur District, West Java. The test result showed that the movable lug wheel had a better traction performance than the conventional lug wheel. The average wheel slip of the movable lug wheel was 11%, which was lower than the wheel slip of the conventional lug wheel (21%). The swing action of the movable lugs could remove the adhered soil on the lug plates, and eliminated soil blocking between the lugs. The average of plowing efficiency using the movable lug wheel was 76%, which was bigger than the conventional lug wheel (68%).