NEW PRODUCT DESIGN VERIFICATION BY MEASURING TORQUE OUTPUT OF A TRACTOR PTO SHAFT IN THE FIELD

Using a PTO Monitoring System To Find Out The Difference Between Predicted Duty Cycle And An Actual Use In The Field

Comer Industries is a worldwide leader in design and production of systems for power transmission for agricultural and industrial machinery worldwide. The company, working together with Kirby Manufacturing, who specialise in producing cattle feeding equipment in the USA, developed a shaft power transmission for a high capacity feed mixer with the ability to shift gears while the machine is running (without interruption of working operation).

This new 2-3-speed power transmission could allow the end user to change speeds of augers without stopping the tractor’s PTO, thus avoiding wasting time, and obtaining fuel savings. As a result, farmers are looking at developing the ability to handle the cattle more efficiently, by saving time & labour, improving feed rations and preventing expensive breakdowns of high capacity feed mixers.

However, before introducing the product to the market, Comer Industries wanted a full understanding of how their product would be used an end customer. To find out the difference between predicted duty cycle and an actual use in the field, they used a Datum Power Monitoring System (PTO), specifically designed to monitor and log torque & shaft speed for Power Take Off shafts in agricultural machinery. The sensor is very robust which makes it an ideal solution for use in the field application (if required

With torque measurement (possible in both directions clockwise and anti-clockwise) up to 1,800 Nm and speed up to 1,000 samples per second, the PTO transducer offers visibility of the engine usage of the tractor and output performance.