Development of Tractor Seat Suspension System for Improving the Ride Comfort

Abstract

The vibration of the driver's seat of agricultural tractors was investigated. Considering three different weight of operators and only seat suspension system of the tractor, simulation was carried out. The suspension system is to be developed for improving the ride comfort for the tractor operator. The damper is to be designed in the suspension system of the seat for increasing the ride comfort. The softwares used in the study are Altair HyperMesh and MSC ADAMS. The bump profile was created and exported in MSC ADAMS for calculating the time of tractor to run over the bump. The time calculated was used in giving the bump like motion to the seat. Spring stiffness was given and was constant throughout the whole study. As three different weights were considered, a spring tensioner needs to be adjusted according to the weight. A methodology was developed to reduce the acceleration of the seat when it travels over the bump. It was observed during the simulation that the topping and bottoming was observed when the seat travels over the bump. Experiments were carried out for designing the damper for different weight of operators. A damper was designed for reducing the acceleration of operator seat. Transmissibility between tractor cabin floor and seat was observed to be reduced after designing the damper. By performing the experiments, location of damper and value of damping co-efficient was decided.