Investigation on Operator's Seat Vibration for Agricultural Tractors

Operator seats for agricultural tractor were developed and optimized with an anti-vibration suspension system. These seats were evaluated by using accelerometer and the central frequencies in the octave bands for determining their static and dynamic characteristics. The vibration transmissibility from the lower side of the seat to the upper side was considerable on all the seats. Results showed paramount differences between the seat suspension characteristics comprising of a piezoelectric crystal and the one without it. The maximum whole body vertical vibrations for tractors T-1 and T-2 were 0.06 m/s² and 0.12 m/s², respectively. In both the tractors the RMS and mean vibration increased with the increase in speed along all axes and operations with a few exceptions from the field. A considerable attenuation up to 50% was obtained in the vibration among both the tractors with the developed seat suspension system. Reductions obtained in the vibration levels appear to be necessary for significant improvement in the operator's performance.