Design and Analysis of Chassis Frame for Four Wheel Rotary Potato and Maize Cultivator Machine

Abstract

Agriculture Has Been The Backbone Of The Ethiopian Economy And It Will Continue To Remain So For A Long Time. Over The Years, Agricultural Practices Have Been Carried Out By Small Scale Farmers Cultivating Using Human Labor And Traditional Tools Such As Wooden Plough, Yoke, Leveler, Harrow, Spade Etc. The Objective Of This Thesis Work Is To Design A Chassis Frame Of Four Wheel Rotary Tiller Machine. The Machine Is Used During The Growth Of Crops Such As Potato And Maize Cultivated Linearly For Small Land Holder Farmers. Our Country Is Still Using Traditional Farming System Which Is Very Tedious And Time Consuming. Therefore Agricultural Vehicle Able To Do Such Operations Is Needed To Minimize The Farmers?�? Fatigue And To Get The Required Product. In This Thesis Work, A Chassis Frame Used To Mount Rotary Tiller Tools Was Designed. The Ladder Chassis Frame Have Been Modeled By Considering Channel Cross-Section Longitudinal Members And Five Cross Members With Three Different Cross-Sections. I.E. C, I And Cylindrical. The Modeling Was Done Using Ansys Fluent Scdm 18.1 And The Analysis Was Done With The Same Software Workbench. Reaction Forces Were Determined Using Static Equations By Considering Fixed Supports At The Four Wheels And The Gross Weight Of The Vehicle Was Taken To Be Applied At The Center Of Gravity Of The Vehicle. Both Static (Bending, Torsion And Combined Bending And Torsion) Analysis And Dynamic (Impact And Modal) Analysis Were Done By Taking Four Different Materials Such As Astm A710 Steel, Astm A302 Steel, Aisi 4140 Tempered And Quenched At 205oc And Aluminum 6063 T-6 Alloys To Evaluate Total Stress And Maximum Deflections (Deformations) And A Factor Of Safety Was Calculated For Each Case. Based On The Result Of The Analysis, Aisi 4140 Tempered And Quenched At 205 Oc Was Found To Be Fit For Both The Longitudinal And Cross Members Due To Its Good Strength And Stiffness. It Had A Factor Of Safety Of 1.47 And 1.59 For Compressive And Tensile Strengths Respectively In Dynamic Analysis Approximately Equal To The Recommended Factor Of Safety (1.5) Which Made The Design Safe