Average and instantaneous fuel consumption of Iranian conventional tractor with moldboard plow in tillage

John Deere 3140 tractors work powerful and useful in Iran farmlands. In this study two fuel flow meter sensors were used for measuring tractor fuel consumption and the measurement system was installed on diesel engine of a 72.3kW John Deer 3140 tractor. A three-share moldboard plow was used for studying the effect of plow depth variations on tractor fuel consumption. Results showed that the tractor with the moldboard plow attached and operating at depths of 0.15, 0.25 and 0.35 m consumes 27.446, 30.096 and 34.06 liters of fuel per hectare, respectively. Increasing plow depth from 0.15 to 0.25 and 0.15 to 0.35 m increases fuel consumption by 9.66 and 24.1%, respectively. The average fuel consumption is 30 L/ha in the common plow depth of 0.2 to 0.25 m which is close to results reported from other parts of the world. Instantaneous fuel consumption during operation of moldboard plow at three depths shows increase of instantaneous fuel consumption when working depth increases. In the farm experiments, only working depth of plow was changed but variations in time-consumption diagram showed that there were other factors affecting draft and thereby fuel consumption during operation.