Validating the Model of a No-Till Coulter Assembly Equipped with a Magnetorheological Damping System

Abstract

Variability in soil conditions has a significant influence on the performance of a no-till seeder in terms of an inconsistency in the depth of seeding. This occurs due to the inappropriate dynamic responses of the coulter to the variable soil conditions. In this work, the dynamics of a coulter assembly, designed with a magnetorheological (MR) damping system, were simulated, in terms of vertical movement and ground impact. The developed model used measured inputs from previously performed experiments, i.e., surface profiles and vertical forces. Subsequently, the actual coulter was reassembled with an MR damping system. Multiple sensors were attached to the developed coulter in order to capture its motion behavior together with the profiles, which were followed by the packer wheel. With the aim to validate the correctness of the simulation model, the simulation outputs, i.e., pitch angles and damper forces, were compared to the measured ones. The comparison was based on the root-mean-squared error (RMSE) in percentage, the root-mean-squared deviation (RMSD), and the correlation coefficient. The average value of the RMSE for the pitch angle, for all currents applied on the MR damper, was below 10% and 8% for the speeds of 10 km h−1 and 12 km h−1, respectively. For the damper force, these figures were 15% and 13%. The RMSD was below 0.5 deg and 1.3 N for the pitch angle and the damper force, respectively. The correlation coefficient for all datasets was above 0.95 and 0.7 for the pitch angle and the damper force, respectively. Since the damper force indicated a comparatively lower correlation in the time domain, its frequency domain and coherence were investigated. The coherence value was above 0.9 for all datasets.