POWER REQUIREMENTS OF A ROTARY TILLER

The paper studies a rotary tiller having a horizontal rotation axis of working tools, which allows to improve the quality of soil tillage as compared with passive working elements. The authors have calculated the power required for soil tillage with a rotary tiller КФГ-3.6 and determined the relationship between the power and the rotary tiller parameters: the body movement speed, the peripheral speed of a knife blade point, the depth of soil tillage, the knife feed, and the cutting arc length. Using the methods of step-by-step regression analysis, the authors determined a regression equation that adequately approximates the relationship between power per unit operating width and the studied parameters. The multiple correlation coeffi cient of the regression equation with the movement speed factors of the rotary tiller frame, the length of the cutting arc, the knife feed equals 0.95. It has been established that for calculating the specifi c power required for rotary tillage, with a given number of knives on the rotary tiller circumference, three parameters need to be taken into account: the movement speed of the cutter frame, the cutting arc length, and the knife feed. The signifi cant effect on the specifi c power of the cutting arc length is explained by the fact that, along with soil cutting with a blade, power requirements are also affected by soil crushing and wedging with the knife.