Retrofitting Agricultural Self-Propelled Machines with Roll-Over and Tip-Over Protective Structures

In the agricultural sector, the loss of stability related to the use of self-propelled agricultural machinery (SPAM) has caused and continues to cause accidents, often with fatal outcomes. The probability of occurrence of this risk can be reduced by acting on various aspects, but above all the presence of a protective structure is necessary. Depending on the machine, the protective structure can be a roll-over protective structure (ROPS), or a tip-over protective structure (TOPS). Hence, to reduce this gap, a reverse engineering approach and virtual engineering methods were applied starting from the analysis of harmonized standards actually in force, with the goal of providing both a reference procedure to be used in the risk assessment analysis of SPAM’s protective structures and technical information to manufacture and install protective structure on old agricultural machinery. Two representative case studies were used to validate the procedure by means of finite element method (FEM) analyses and computer aided design (CAD) prototyping. Results show that the proposed approach can represent a useful indication for the safety update of this type of machinery.

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Strategy for the engineering integration of the ESS accelerator

International Journal of Modern Physics Conference Series ◽

10.1142/s2010194516602088 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 44 ◽

pp. 1660208

Author(s):

Nikolaos Gazis ◽

David McGinnis ◽

Stephen Molloy ◽

Eugene Tanke ◽

Carl-Johan Hardh ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Information Exchange ◽

Computer Aided Design ◽

Mechanical Design ◽

Technical Information ◽

Technical Requirements ◽

Key Issues ◽

Spallation Source ◽

Engineering Integration ◽

Under Construction ◽

Aided Design

The European Spallation Source (ESS), currently under construction in Lund, Sweden, will be the world’s most powerful source of neutrons. The goal is to deliver neutrons to users in 2019 and reach full power sometime in the middle of the following decade. One of the key issues for ESS is to develop a strategy, along with the proper innovative tools, to efficiently communicate and smoothly collaborate between divisions and groups inside ESS and with its outside collaborators, so-called In-Kind Contributors (IKC). Technical requirements related to the scope to be delivered are among the most important technical information to be exchanged. This information exchange is facilitated by using a commercial requirements management database that is accessible through the web. The physics multidisciplinary needs are linked with the engineering integration through LinacLego, which is a tool that provides all updated lattice data for the accelerator. The lattice information is then gathered and utilized to control the physical positioning of the mechanical engineering components for the accelerator. The precision for this operation is provided by a dedicated mechanical design skeleton in a Computer Aided Design (CAD) environment. Finally, the realization of all these steps is supervised in detail and continuously evaluated. In this way the required ESS machine design can be delivered, both in terms of the engineering and the physics aspects.

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Theoretical Foundations for the Computer-Aided Design System

SIMULATION ◽

10.1177/003754976400200312 ◽

1964 ◽

Vol 2 (3) ◽

pp. R-3-R-20

Author(s):

Douglas T. Ross ◽

Jorge E. Rodriguez

Keyword(s):

Air Force ◽

Computer Aided Design ◽

Technical Information ◽

Design System ◽

Electronic Systems ◽

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology ◽

Institute Of Technology ◽

Air Force Base ◽

Aided Design ◽

Theoretical Foundations

This work has been made possible through the support extended to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Electronic Systems Laboratory, by the Manufacturing Technology Laboratory, ASD, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, under Contract No. AF-33(600)- 42859. It is published for technical information only and does not necessarily represent the recommendations or conclusions of the sponsoring agency.

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Fitting and testing roll-over protective structures on self-propelled agricultural machinery

Journal of Agricultural Engineering ◽

10.4081/jae.2013.390 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 44 (2s) ◽

Author(s):

Domenico Pessina ◽

Davide Facchinetti

Keyword(s):

Lateral Stability ◽

Protective Structure ◽

Agricultural Machinery ◽

Protection Level ◽

Centre Of Gravity ◽

Real Risk ◽

Mass Dimension ◽

Different Dimensions ◽

Protective Structures ◽

State Of Art

Roll-Over Protective Structure (ROPS) represents the state of art for the driver’s protection in case of tractors roll-over. Despite their real risk of overturning, the ROPS approach for the Self-Propelled agricultural Machinery (SPM) is quite recent. Due to the several SPM categories available on the market, characterized by very different mass, dimension and working functions, the fitting of a ROPS and consequently the ascertainment of its protection level is quite complicated. SPM could be preliminarily divided into at least two categories: - large SPM: combine, forage, potato, sugar-beet and grape harvesters; sprayer; etc.; - small SPM: ride-on tractor, mower, comb side-delivery rake, etc. The most followed approach at present is to check preliminarily the overturning behavior of the SPM considering its longitudinal and lateral stability; if a real risk of overturning is ascertained, in order to minimize the likelihood of driver’s injury the manufacturer often installs a ROPS. The consequent need is to provide some test criteria of them. Sprayers between large SPM, and comb side-delivery rake between small SPM were the machine types on which ROPS were tested, adopting in both cases the procedure provided by Code 4 issued by the Organization for Economic and Cooperation Development (OECD), dedicated to ROPS fitted on conventional agricultural and forestry tractors. Notwithstanding the very different dimensions of these two SPM, this standard was selected considering the predictable roll-over behavior, also in relation with the front and rear track values. On the 4950 kg mass sprayer was fitted a closed cab, while on the 690 kg mass comb side-delivery rakes a 3-pillars frame was applied. In both cases the response of the tests was positive, so indicating a general suitability of OECD Code 4 to assure a ROPS good driver’s protection level in case of overturning. On the other hand, to ascertain more in detail the roll-over behavior of the SPM, some further questions need to be deeply examined, such as the driver’s place location, the height of the centre of gravity from the ground in different machine configurations (i.e. with crop tanks empty or full), the external silhouette, the axles mass distribution of the laden/unladen machine, etc.

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PDM Moves to the Mainstream

Mechanical Engineering ◽

10.1115/1.1998-oct-3 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 120 (10) ◽

pp. 74-79 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Ed Miller

Keyword(s):

Computer Aided Design ◽

Technical Information ◽

Product Data Management ◽

Change Processes ◽

File Format ◽

Process Automation ◽

Engineering Change ◽

Tightly Coupled ◽

Solid Edge ◽

Aided Design

Product data management (PDM) has proven its value as a critical tool in handling the enormous amounts of technical information companies generate. Now the PDM industry is applying this experience to more affordable systems targeted at smaller organizations. Several suppliers have entered the market with economical approaches aimed specifically at midsized companies. Many companies use PDM to eliminate inefficiencies in the engineering change process. Diebold, Inc. reduced engineering change cycle time by 30 percent through process automation with PDM. IBM is using PDM technology in product development for sharing data among groups, designing tools tightly coupled with release and change processes, interfacing with procurement and other services, and establishing real-time communication of data across the enterprise. Engineers increasingly are using PDM viewing features to track subsystems. Virtual-mockup capabilities enable engineers to import all the parts files for a product designed in Solid Edge, regardless of computer-aided design (CAD) vendor or file format.

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Flowing into the Future

Mechanical Engineering ◽

10.1115/1.2004-feb-1 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 126 (02) ◽

pp. 26-29 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jean Thilmany

Keyword(s):

Computer Aided Design ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Cost Effective ◽

Engineering System ◽

Business Practices ◽

Element Analysis ◽

Founding Fathers ◽

Virtual Engineering ◽

Engineering Environment ◽

Aided Design

Iowa State researchers are working on technology to let engineers design and analyze in real time surrounded by three-dimensional virtual reality. The goal for virtual engineering is for the engineer to better focus on solving the problem at hand, without spending undue amounts of time gathering information, modelling the information, and then analyzing it. The virtual engineering system would integrate computational fluid dynamics and finite element analysis modelling and simulation technologies so engineers would feel as though they’re walking through a system, like a power plant, testing as they go. According to experts, the challenge of building a complete virtual engineering environment comes while coupling software packages as well as in the limitations of visualization and computing hardware prevalent currently. Howard Crabb, one of the founding fathers of computer-aided design technology, predicts that virtual engineering will become cost-effective within the decade. He’s the author of The Virtual Engineer, a book that defines how companies can use the powerful supercomputing capabilities available today to streamline business practices.

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