Improvement of vibration protection system of industrial tractor operators

When developing new models of industrial tractors, compliance with the regulatory requirements for vibration protection of operators is verified at the stage of certification tests. At this stage, development procedures are associated with significant time and material costs. The article proves the possibility to use a computational and experimental technique which allows us to determine the level and frequency content of potentially dangerous vibration sources at the development stage; to develop computer models of the system “excitation source - frame - cab - antivibration seat - operator”; to develop proposals to comply with legislative requirements using parametric forecasting. As an example, the problem of vibration in the low frequency range of 2-14 Hz was considered. This vibration is caused by rolling of track rollers on the track chain, which lies on a yielding soil foundation. Basing on the analysis of field test results, the kinematic effect of track rollers on the tractor frame was represented as stationary random narrow-band processes. A mathematical model of the tractor was described by a set of differential equations with random input processes. Methods of statistical dynamics were used to implement the model. The simulation data of T-11 motion with different speeds are given. The results are presented as a set of transfer functions, as well as the spectral densities of changes in generalized model coordinates and accelerations at the driver’s seat. The difference between the calculation results and the experimental data does not exceed 15-20 %. The effect of elastic-viscous characteristics of vibration protection devices on the level of accelerations at the operator’s seat was analyzed. As a result, it was recommended that these characteristics should be changed in order to reduce the vertical vibration acceleration of the driver’s seat. This approach allows us to solve the problems of vibration protection of operators when designing and testing prototype models of road-building machinery. It is achieved by tuning out the system “track assembly - frame - cab - antivibration seat” of resonance phenomena.