@masterthesis{Cheung, type = {Bachelor Thesis}, author = {Cheung, Ho Yu}, title = {Comparison of wheel and rubber track drives for tractors regarding masses, mass inertias, energy demands and tractor mechanics}, school = {Hochschule Rhein-Waal}, abstract = {Soil compaction is a major concern in agriculture. As farming machinery develops to be larger and heavier, the risk of soil compaction increases. Tractors with rubber tracks have been developed to increase the contact area with soil in order to reduce the risk of soil compaction as well as to increase tractive performance. However, tractors with rubber tracks have increased mass due to the track components. Therefore, the combined effect of rubber tracks was investigated. Comparison of tyres and rubber tracks for tractors on mass, mass inertia, tractor mechanics, energy demand, and soil compaction were investigated. Configurations of tractors consisting of combinations of tyres and interchangeable rubber tracks are evaluated in calculations and in simulation tool Terranimo. Simplified rubber track models were built in order to investigate effect of inertia from the rotational components on energy demand. A theoretical scenario was constructed to calculate the energy demand for the predefined workload. Experimental data in past research showed that the superior tractive performance of rubber track is more apparent in looser soil. In the energy demand calculation part of the thesis the tracked configurations resulted in a higher energy demand. The tracked configurations also showed effect on reducing risk of soil compaction in the same defined scenario. However, the increased energy demand, hence higher fuel consumption and energy efficiency is a downside of the tracked configurations, and the selection between tyre and rubber track should depend on the situation.}, language = {en} }