Influence of Geometry in the Behavior of Disc-Shaped Mechanical Energy Absorbers for Agricultural Tractors

Disc-shaped mechanical energy absorbers (MEAs), in combination with rollover protection structures (ROPSs), may contribute to the prevention of the infringement of the safety zone and the collapse of the ROPS in case of the overturn of an agricultural tractor. An MEA can absorb a significant amount...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Agronomy (Basel) 2021-12, Vol.11 (12), p.2594
Main Authors: Latorre-Biel, Juan-Ignacio, Pérez-Ezcurdia, Amaya, Benito-Amurrio, Marta, Alfaro-López, José Ramón
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Absorbers
Additive manufacturing
Agricultural equipment
disc-shaped MEA
Electric vehicles
Energy
Geometry
Investigations
Load
mechanical energy absorber
Mechanical properties
Potential energy
Rollover
ROPS
Safety
strain energy
tensile test
Thickness
tractor overturn
Tractors
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Summary:Disc-shaped mechanical energy absorbers (MEAs), in combination with rollover protection structures (ROPSs), may contribute to the prevention of the infringement of the safety zone and the collapse of the ROPS in case of the overturn of an agricultural tractor. An MEA can absorb a significant amount of potential energy of an overturning tractor and its deformation produces a rotation of the ROPS around the safety zone. In this research, MEAs with two different geometries have been developed. Both geometries present common features, such as disc dimensions, number of rings, and number of arms, but the distribution of the arms differs. Additionally, these MEA were manufactured in steel discs of four different thicknesses, ranging from 2 to 6 mm. The manufactured MEAs were tested in a universal testing machine, and their behavior characterized. From this data, linear models of the MEAs were developed. As a consequence, a number of characteristic parameters were selected and calculated, such as the activation load and the strain energy absorbed in a safe range of applied loads. Some patterns and trends were analyzed from the tested MEAs, which enables a better description of their behavior and the extrapolation of this behavior to other non-tested thicknesses and geometries.
ISSN:2073-4395
2073-4395
DOI:10.3390/agronomy11122594