Ballasting of tractors

Recently, the ballasting of tractors has become widespread. Ballast is necessary to compensate for the decrease in the material consumption and excessive increase in the energy saturation of modern tractors, which arose due to the evolutionary development of their technical level. By using ballast, an artificial in-crease in weight and a decrease in the energy saturation of a new generation tractor are achieved to the level of its reference value inherent to cargo tractor. The article analyzes the application of ballast in the volume of the entire standard-sized row of tractors, the world's leading tractor-building companies. The evaluation of the main parameters of the tractor and the level of its ballasting is carried out using the con-cept of the reference energy saturation of the tractor and its specific value. The analysis showed that bal-last application is disorderly, chaotic. This is explained, on the one hand, by a large spread of energy satu-ration of tractors, on the other hand, by the lack of a unified approach to the goal of ballasting and the choice of ballast weight. Currently in the technical literature there are no generally accepted recommendations on these issues. In these conditions, the abundance in the market of varied offers makes it difficult to make the right choice when different ballast is offered to different models of tractors, identical or close to each other in terms of basic parameters. The chaotic nature of ballasting can adversely affect the economic exploitation of the potential opportunities inherent in the construction of a new generation tractor. There is an urgent need to carry out developments in the theory of engineering and the theory of technological operation of the tractor. Based on the results of the studies performed, the following recommendation is proposed. When choosing a tractor as an object of purchase, it is advisable to follow the rules: tractor with full ballast should have a reference energy saturation of 1,5 ... 1,6 kW / kN; The weight of the ballast must be equal to 25, 50 and 75 kN, so that when using it, an increase in tractive power of the tractor by 10, 20 or 30 kN, respectively (depending on the tractor traction class) is obtained. This recommendation is also valid for a set of ballast weights and tractor parameters at the stage of its creation.

tractor, traction class, ballast, energy saturation, first generation tractor, engine, power, traction power