The main subject of this master‘s thesis is an innovative approach to design of an ag- ricultural tractor with technical, esthetic, ergonomic and economic demands. The aim is to create a distinctive design and shape of tractor unbound from conventional solutions. The concept takes account of the farm–machine relationship, the alterna- tive powertrain, and friendliness to the environment.

<p dir="ltr">Hydraulic actuation technology is one of the most common ways of transferring power in agricultural and construction machinery. As the system efficiency and fuel consumption of these machines gains more attention due to climate change, a new generation of high-efficient hydraulic architecture is in need. This dissertation presents a study for reducing energy loss in the hydraulic control system of agricultural tractors and their implements. The solution is referred to as a multi-pressure rail (MPR) system and provides power to the hydraulic functions following a pressure control logic, as opposed to the traditional flow control logic typical of hydraulic systems used in off-road vehicles.</p><p dir="ltr">The proposed hydraulic architecture and controller allows for elimination of redundant flow control valves in the state-of-the-art system, which cause excessive throttling losses leading to poor overall energy efficiency. Related work on MPR technology targets construction vehicles, where the MPR solution can allow energy recovery during overrunning loads and better engine management. This study alternatively addresses the case of agricultural applications where functions mostly operate under resistive load conditions with slow dynamics, which offers an opportunity to target throttle losses. The hydraulic architecture design starts with the choice of number of rails, then supply system and pressure selection and control valve set. Next, the controller is proposed. The controller contains two layers. The lower layer directly controls the command tracking, rotational speed, or pressure, for each subsystem. The higher layer, namely the supervisory controller, optimizes the rail pressure levels in real time to guarantee minimum overall throttling loss.</p><p dir="ltr">To prove the effectiveness of the hydraulic system architecture and controller design, a standalone test rig was conceived and used to validate a numerical simulation model of the MPR system and its control strategy. Particular focus is given to the dynamic behavior of the system during the switches of a function between different pressure rails, which needs to ensure reduced oscillations of the flow provided to each hydraulic function. Then, to demonstrate the ability on power saving in real working conditions, reference machines were chosen: a 435 hp hydraulic tractor powering a 16-row planter, for which operating features during typical drive cycles were available to the authors. Simulation models of the two reference machines were built and validated with in field experiments. A full MPR system model on the reference machines was constructed using the validated models. This full model was used to predict the reference tractor and planter hydraulic system performance and power consumption during typical drive cycles. The results show up to 52.4% total power reduction at the pump shaft, corresponding to 113.8% system efficiency gain.</p><p dir="ltr">The dissertation also laid out the planned activities to complete the study. The system controller will be generalized that could suit more equipment in addition to the reference machine in this study. In the meantime, the reference tractor and planter will be modified into the proposed MPR system for field testing. That includes new sensors, controllers, valves, etc. The field test is the final experimental validation for the proposed MPR system on the front of effectiveness and power saving in real working condition.</p>

A depreciação de tratores agrícolas de rodas é um importante componente do custo fixo. A correta determinação desse parâmetro torna-se vital para o cálculo do custo da maquinaria ao longo da vida útil. Vários métodos são propostos para a estimativa da depreciação dos tratores com mais de um ano de uso: linear, saldo decrescente, soma do digíto dos anos, fundo de recuperação de capital e os valores publicados pelo jornal "O Estado de São Paulo". O mais adequado entre os métodos disponíveis é o preço de mercado, que está baseado na pesquisa do valor da maquinaria junto ao mercado. Este trabalho consiste, em uma pesquisa para o levantamento, no mercado, de preços de venda de tratores agrícolas de rodas usados e na comparação dos valores obtidos (valor real de mercado) com os propostos na bibliografia. Para obtenção dos preços de mercado foi elaborado um questionário contendo as informações sobre o exemplar avaliado e os principais componentes de um trator agrícola, a fim de avaliar o estado de conservação do trator, indicando notas de 1 (ruim) a 5 (ótimo), conforme o estado dos componentes . O questionário foi disponibilizado no site da Escola Superior de Agricultura "Luiz de Queiroz" ESALQ-USP, tendo sido enviado a concessionários de todo país um pedido para que participassem da pesquisa. O baixo índice de respostas, cerca de 3%, motivou uma pesquisa feita junto a concessionários num raio de 150 km da cidade de Piracicaba. A etapa posterior à coleta foi a análise da vida útil (em anos), potência, horas trabalhada e o estado de conservação dos tratores avaliados. Com o avanço da idade do trator o estado de conservação ia se deteriorando, tendo sido encontrados tratores com até 34 anos de vida útil. A análise das horas trabalhadas foi prejudicada pela falta de confiabilidade nos horímetros e nas informações coletadas em tratores com instrumentos danificados. Potências encontradas na frota avaliada foram concentradas nas com maior índice de comercialização no país. A análise de regressão foi significativa somente em relação à vida útil e preço de mercado. A comparação entre o modelo obtido e os métodos propostos revelou uma diferença expressiva no primeiro ano, sendo que o modelo empírico demonstrou-se preciso: a partir do sétimo ano, em comparação com o método linear e o saldo decrescente; a partir do terceiro ano, em relação á soma dos dígitos dos anos e os valores publicados em "O Estado de São Paulo"; e a partir do oitavo ano, em comparação com o método fundo de recuperação de capital. / The depreciation of wheeled tractors is an important component of the fixed cost. The right determination of this parameter is vital to determine the machinery cost during its useful life. Several methods are proposed in order to estimate tractor depreciation with more than a year of use: linear, decreasing balance, sum of the year’s digit, fund of capital recovery and the values published by the newspaper "O Estado de São Paulo". The most adequate among the available methods is the market price, which is based on research of the machinery value ok tractor dealers. This work consists in a surveying of sale prices of agricultural wheeled tractors and in the comparison of the obtained data (value practiced in the market) with those obtained by methods proposed on references. In order to obtain these data it was elaborated a questionnaire, which had fields for the evaluated machine and its main components to be evaluated. For the evaluation of the tractor conservation, grades from 1 (bad) to 5 (excellent) were attributed to each component. This questionnaire was available on the web site of the College of Agriculture "Luiz de Queiroz", University of São Paulo. Tractor dealers throughout the country were contacted and asked to join the survey. The low rate of answers (3%) motivated a survey done directly to dealers located in a 150- km radius from Piracicaba, state of São Paulo. The step after the data collection was the analyses of useful life (years), power, worked hours and the conservation state of the evaluated tractors. As the tractor age was increasing the conservation state was worsening. Tractors up to 34 years of use were counted. The analysis of worked hours was hardened by the lack of trustfulness of the hour counter and by the information gotten in tractors with broken instruments. Power levels found in the evaluated fleet were concentrated on those more traded in Brazil. The regression analysis was significant only when useful life and market price were related. The comparison between the developed model and the proposed methods revealed the biggest difference on the first year of use, and it became more trustful from the seventh year of use, comparing with the linear and decreasing balance methods; when comparing to the sum of the year’s digit method and the values published by the newspaper "O Estado de São Paulo", from the third year of use, and finally, when comparing to fund of capital recovery method, from the eighth year of use.

A depreciação de tratores agrícolas de rodas é um importante componente do custo fixo. A correta determinação desse parâmetro torna-se vital para o cálculo do custo da maquinaria ao longo da vida útil. Vários métodos são propostos para a estimativa da depreciação dos tratores com mais de um ano de uso: linear, saldo decrescente, soma do digíto dos anos, fundo de recuperação de capital e os valores publicados pelo jornal “O Estado de São Paulo”. O mais adequado entre os métodos disponíveis é o preço de mercado, que está baseado na pesquisa do valor da maquinaria junto ao mercado. Este trabalho consiste, em uma pesquisa para o levantamento, no mercado, de preços de venda de tratores agrícolas de rodas usados e na comparação dos valores obtidos (valor real de mercado) com os propostos na bibliografia. Para obtenção dos preços de mercado foi elaborado um questionário contendo as informações sobre o exemplar avaliado e os principais componentes de um trator agrícola, a fim de avaliar o estado de conservação do trator, indicando notas de 1 (ruim) a 5 (ótimo), conforme o estado dos componentes . O questionário foi disponibilizado no site da Escola Superior de Agricultura “Luiz de Queiroz” ESALQ-USP, tendo sido enviado a concessionários de todo país um pedido para que participassem da pesquisa. O baixo índice de respostas, cerca de 3%, motivou uma pesquisa feita junto a concessionários num raio de 150 km da cidade de Piracicaba. A etapa posterior à coleta foi a análise da vida útil (em anos), potência, horas trabalhada e o estado de conservação dos tratores avaliados. Com o avanço da idade do trator o estado de conservação ia se deteriorando, tendo sido encontrados tratores com até 34 anos de vida útil. A análise das horas trabalhadas foi prejudicada pela falta de confiabilidade nos horímetros e nas informações coletadas em tratores com instrumentos danificados. Potências encontradas na frota avaliada foram concentradas nas com maior índice de comercialização no país. A análise de regressão foi significativa somente em relação à vida útil e preço de mercado. A comparação entre o modelo obtido e os métodos propostos revelou uma diferença expressiva no primeiro ano, sendo que o modelo empírico demonstrou-se preciso: a partir do sétimo ano, em comparação com o método linear e o saldo decrescente; a partir do terceiro ano, em relação á soma dos dígitos dos anos e os valores publicados em “O Estado de São Paulo”; e a partir do oitavo ano, em comparação com o método fundo de recuperação de capital. / The depreciation of wheeled tractors is an important component of the fixed cost. The right determination of this parameter is vital to determine the machinery cost during its useful life. Several methods are proposed in order to estimate tractor depreciation with more than a year of use: linear, decreasing balance, sum of the year’s digit, fund of capital recovery and the values published by the newspaper “O Estado de São Paulo”. The most adequate among the available methods is the market price, which is based on research of the machinery value ok tractor dealers. This work consists in a surveying of sale prices of agricultural wheeled tractors and in the comparison of the obtained data (value practiced in the market) with those obtained by methods proposed on references. In order to obtain these data it was elaborated a questionnaire, which had fields for the evaluated machine and its main components to be evaluated. For the evaluation of the tractor conservation, grades from 1 (bad) to 5 (excellent) were attributed to each component. This questionnaire was available on the web site of the College of Agriculture “Luiz de Queiroz”, University of São Paulo. Tractor dealers throughout the country were contacted and asked to join the survey. The low rate of answers (3%) motivated a survey done directly to dealers located in a 150- km radius from Piracicaba, state of São Paulo. The step after the data collection was the analyses of useful life (years), power, worked hours and the conservation state of the evaluated tractors. As the tractor age was increasing the conservation state was worsening. Tractors up to 34 years of use were counted. The analysis of worked hours was hardened by the lack of trustfulness of the hour counter and by the information gotten in tractors with broken instruments. Power levels found in the evaluated fleet were concentrated on those more traded in Brazil. The regression analysis was significant only when useful life and market price were related. The comparison between the developed model and the proposed methods revealed the biggest difference on the first year of use, and it became more trustful from the seventh year of use, comparing with the linear and decreasing balance methods; when comparing to the sum of the year’s digit method and the values published by the newspaper “O Estado de São Paulo”, from the third year of use, and finally, when comparing to fund of capital recovery method, from the eighth year of use.