Air Compressor Assembly, Installation and Evaluation on Agricultural Tractor

Abstract

This study was carried out to develop an air compressor and
container to be installed at the rear side of a tractor and operated from the
power take-off shaft. Three iron frames and flexible hoses were used to
link the air compressor and air container. The compressor was tested with
three sizes of tires (254,406 and 965 mm) during three times per day
(10.00 am, 12.00 and 3.00 pm). Tire air filling with the assembled
compressor was compared with manual and electrical workshop
compressing mechanisms. The results showed that the difference in
average fuel consumption between tractor engine operated alone and the
assembled compressor was only 117 ml/hr. There was no significant
difference in fuel consumption when the compressor was operated at any
time during the day. The time taken for air filling of the three sizes of tires
(254, 406 and 965 mm) was 0.73, 2.0 and 5.3 hours for manual, 4.0, 4.01
and 4.1 hours for electrical workshop and 0.01, 0.05 and 0.12 hours for
the assembled compressor, respectively. The difference in average total
time taken for tire air filling between the three air compressing
mechanisms was highly significant (P= 0.01). The average cost of tire
repairing and air filling by the assembled compressor was 76% lower than
the cost at the nearest electrical workshop.