Stress and Fatigue Analysis of Picking Device Gears for a 2.6 kW Automatic Pepper Transplanter

Abstract

A seedling picking device is an essential component for an automatic transplanter to automatically convey the seedling to the dibbling part. It is necessary to find the appropriate material and dimensions for the picking device gears to avoid mechanical damage and increase their durability. Therefore, the objectives of this research were to analyze the stress of a picking device gear mechanism in order to select suitable materials and dimensions, and to predict the fatigue life by considering the damage level. The picking device gear shaft divided the input power into two categories, i.e., crank and cam gear sets. Finite element analysis simulation and American Gear Manufacturers Association standard stress analysis theory tests were conducted on both of the crank and cam gear sets for different materials and dimensions. A test bench was fabricated to collect the load (torque) data at different gear operating speeds. The torque data were analyzed using the load duration distribution method to observe the cyclic load patterns. The Palmgren–Miner cumulative damage rule was used to determine the damage level of the picking mechanism gears with respect to the operating speed. The desired lifespan of the transplanter was 255 h to meet the real field service life requirement. Predicted fatigue life range of the picking mechanism gears was recorded as from 436.65 to 4635.97 h, making it higher (by approximately 2 to 18 times) than the lifespan of the transplanter. According to the analyses, the “Steel Composite Material 420H carbon steel” material with a 5 mm face width gear was suitable to operate the picking device for a 10-year transplanter service life. The analysis of stress and fatigue presented in this study will guide the design of picking device gears with effective material properties to maintain the recommended service life of the pepper transplanter.

Fatigue Life Analysis of Main Reducer Gears for Battery Electric Bus Considering Regenerative Braking

“…Based on the static analysis results and the stress-time load spectrum data [25], combined with the material properties of 20CrNiMo, the fatigue life of the main reducer gear under electromagnetic braking condition and friction braking condition was calculated, respectively. The specific calculation process is shown in Figure 14.…”

Theoretical transmission analysis to optimize Gearbox for a 2.6 kW automatic pepper transplanter

“…Several types of carbon steel materials are available at the research and industrial level. Two of the most commonly used materials, namely steel composite material 25CrMo4 (medium carbon steel) and C60 steel (high carbon steel), were selected for this analysis, as used by Islam et al (2021). Lubricant temperature is a major issue on effective viscosity.…”

“…For the validation, results of our simulation were compared with the output shaft power of the field experiment data using the picking and dibbling mechanisms of the transplanter prototype reported previously (Islam et al, 2020;Islam et al, 2021;Iqbal et al, 2021a,b). A test bench was fabricated to measure the load of the picking device gear.…”

Fracture Mechanics—Theory, Modeling and Applications

“…Islam et al [10] studied the stresses on the gears of a pepper transplanter picking device in order to determine the best combination of material type and dimensions with the aim of predicting their fatigue life. For this, they used a combination of numerical analysis via the finite element methods and tests specified by the American Gear Manufacturers Association.…”