Tractor Development Trends

Judging from the production and use of tractors, the main development trends of tractors are:
1. The average power continues to increase. Regardless of agricultural tractors or industrial tractors, in order to improve the operating productivity of a single machine, the average power continues to increase, but the growth rate has a downward trend. North America and the Soviet Union have less people and more land, and large-scale agricultural production. Most of them use large-scale agricultural machinery and equipment, and are equipped with corresponding high-power tractors. In general, developing countries are still dominated by small and medium-power tractors, but their average power is also increasing.
2. Wheel tractors have an absolute advantage among agricultural tractors. Crawler tractors are basically no longer used in agricultural production in many countries. In the Soviet Union, Italy and China, although some crawler tractors are still in use, their proportion is also declining. Among industrial tractors, especially bulldozers, excavators and other models, the crawler type still has an absolute advantage. With the increase in tractor power, four-wheel drive tractors have developed rapidly. The application of hydraulic steering devices can solve the steering difficulty problem of this model, and articulated steering can greatly reduce the steering radius. These factors have further promoted the development of high-power four-wheel drive tractors. In order to improve the traction, adhesion and passing capabilities in paddy fields, four-wheel drive variants of small and medium-power wheeled tractors have also achieved rapid development in Japan and other countries.
3. The safety, ease of operation and comfort of the working environment of tractors are receiving more and more attention. Well-designed and manufactured cabs and various instruments can not only improve the driver's working conditions and ensure safety, but also improve labor productivity and work quality.
4. The serialization, generalization and standardization of tractors and their parts are important measures to facilitate production and use, reduce manufacturing costs and simplify the supply of parts. In order to meet the diverse needs of the tractor market with fewer basic tractor models, major tractor companies in Europe and the United States produce one or several series of products. In countries such as the Soviet Union, there is a nationally unified tractor series model spectrum to guide the development of each manufacturer's products. Develop basic tractor models and their corresponding variants with two or more power levels that are organically related to form a series of products, which can achieve the highest degree of commonality of components between products, thereby increasing the number of common parts. Production batches of parts; or the ability to produce similar parts on the same processing line and assemble similar parts and tractors of adjacent grades on the same assembly line. This is very beneficial for making full use of production capacity and reducing production costs.
5. Hydraulic technology is increasingly used in tractors. In modern tractors, especially large tractors, hydraulic devices are used to control almost all major components, such as clutches, power shifts of transmissions, differential locks, brakes, and steering mechanisms. On some tractors, hydraulic devices are also used to adjust the seats and open and close the glass windows. Electronic-hydraulic controlled suspension systems have been used on some tractors. Due to the convenience of the control switch arrangement, this device can shorten the hydraulic pipeline accordingly and will be more widely used on large tractors.
6. Certain components of the tractor are subjected to random alternating loads for a long time, which will cause fatigue damage and affect the working reliability and life of the tractor. In order to further improve product quality, large tractor companies have invested a lot of money and manpower to prepare part load spectra under various working conditions, organize simulation tests and stress analysis, and compile electronic computers on the basis of accumulating a large amount of experimental data. software for optimized design. This can not only improve product quality, but also shorten the development cycle of new products. Advanced tractor manufacturers have applied computer-aided design (CAD) methods to product design. The research and application of optimized design have also received increasing attention.