Concurrent engineering approach in design of test equipment for detecting farm tractor mechanical performances: Application to development of hub-adapter

Abstract

The development of a test system to complete existing equipment in a research laboratory is a real design-activity, with even high complexity levels and many constraints, in terms of resistance to mechanical stresses and geometric connectivity to existing mechanical interfaces as well. Such a project must also be focussed, if possible, on cost saving and realisation speed, to make the best possible use of research funds, having often a limited time-availability. Concurrent Engineering (CE), born in the early 90s, is as a well-defined system approach to optimize the design and engineering cycles, with emphasis on tasks parallelization. In particular, CE revolves around the concept of considering all elements of a product lifecycle in the early design phases. By doing so, the resulting project is virtually free from design errors, which are expensive to be corrected in existing components and critical for the success of that project. The "Theory of Inventive Problem Solving" or TRIZ includes a practical methodology, some tools, a knowledge-base and a model-based technology for generating innovative solutions for problem solving. CE and TRIZ together can be particularly-effective also in the design of unique components, e.g. those composing the equipment of a research laboratory. This work illustrates the approach followed in defining a component of a system to measure the agricultural machinery performance. This rig will connect the rear wheels of a tractor to an existing PTO-dyno through two multiplication stages. In particular, the cited methodologies have been applied in the development of a hubadapter, i.e. the element that interfaces with the machine in test. The research for technical documentation and standards, the direct measurement of existing parts, the computer-aided design with 3D-modelling and finite element calculation of the components, have allowed to obtain iteratively a project verified in all aspects, ready to be realized.