Puddling is a crucial process in rice cultivation, involving the preparation of the soil in a flooded field to create a soft, muddy seedbed. There are two classifications for puddling: full cage and half cage. Full cage puddling involves replacing the rear wheels of the tractor with steel paddle wheels, which are used to till the rice paddies directly without any additional implement. In the half cage puddling, the rear wheels remain on the tractor, and a smaller cage or paddle wheel is attached to the outside.
Considering the field size, the operator often releases the clutch very quickly after a speed or direction change. This generates torque spikes, which are harmful to Transmission Gears and Clutches. This can lead to gear teeth bending fatigue failure due to repeated higher bending stresses.
In this paper, a study related to how to reduce overall product development time by simulating bending fatigue failure of gear in lab environment is presented. A systematic approach is used to understand the field application, data acquisition, Data analysis, new test stand development and replication of failure mode in lab environment.
This approach resulted in significant time savings. Multiple design iterations with minimal variation can be executed. This eliminates dependency on field, environmental conditions, and different variabilities. Finally, it supports timely decision-making based on the outcomes.