PERFORMANCE OF MODIFIED CAGE WHEELS IN SWAMPY PEAT SOILS

摘要

Most power tillers used in swampy peat soils of Indonesia still use the existing design of cage wheels, without any modification to suit the specific conditions of swampy areas. Use of the existing cage wheels mostly cause serious mobility problems. The wheel slip, sinkage increases and tractive efficiency decreases. This study was aimed to measure field performance of the modified cage wheels of a power tiller for use in swampy peat soils. These cage wheels were modified based on the experiments carried out in the soil bin. This study was conducted in swampy areas of South Sumatera, Indonesia, using a 6.4 kW of power tiller. The results showed that, compared with the existing cage wheels, using the modified cage wheel, the maximum tractive efficiency of the power tiller could be improved from 37.6 to 55.6%, wheel slip and drawbar power at maximum tractive efficiency from 53.4% and 0.22 kW to 43.9% and 0.6 kW respectively.