Evaluation Fuel Consumption of Agricultural Tractors Using CAN/Bus Technology

Tractors in Italy are still primarily utilized for plowing operations, which represents one of the most important single in the budget of arable farms. In this study CAN/Bus interface was used for measuring and record tractor fuel consumption of 220 HP heavy duty tractor. Tests were carried out during ripper plow operations, investigating the effect of plow depth variations on tractor fuel consumption. Results showed that the tractor with the heavy ripper plow attached and operating at depths of 70, 150, 200, 300, 400 mm consumes respectively 27.446, 30.096 and 15.040, 18.420, 26.550, 30.600, 30.800 liters of fuel per hour. Increasing the plow depth from 70 to 400 mm the fuel consumption increase by 50%.The average fuel consumption is 30 L/ha in the common plows depth of 300 and 400 mm which is close to results reported from other authors in previous investigations. Instantaneous fuel consumption during operation of ripper plow at five depths shows increase of instantaneous fuel consumption when working depth increases. During the field tests variations in timeconsumption diagram was observed, because of other factors, such as draft force and slippage, affecting fuel consumption during operations.