Engineering technologies and systems

Introduction. The key task facing the agricultural workers of the Russian Federation is to ensure the national food security based on effective competitive agro-industrial production and successful integration into the global agricultural market. In solving this problem, a special place is given to the technical re-equipment of the agro-industrial complex through equipping it with new and modernized wheeled mobile agricultural machinery with propellers set on pneumatic tires providing greater mobility and productivity.

Aim of the Study. The study is aimed at finding the dependence of the tire energy indicators during the general case of rolling the wheel of a mobile agricultural vehicle.

Materials and Methods. When studying the energy parameters of the leading pneumatic wheels of mobile equipment, there was used a theoretical and experimental method. As objects for field tests on “tire tester”, there were used series-produced tire models F-81, FD-12 and F-85 applied to equip the running systems of the tractors of the traction class 5.

Results. As a result of theoretical and experimental studies, there was found the dependence of the traction coefficient of the driving wheels on pneumatic tires during the general case of motion.

Discussion and Conclusion. In the course of analytical and experimental studies  during the general case of motion of the driving pneumatic wheels of mobile energy vehicles of the fifth traction class, there was found that: a decrease in the traction properties of pneumatic wheels when they move with directional troubles, even at minor slip angles (1.5...2.5°), slipping increases to 25%; resistance to self-movement of the driving pneumatic wheel with increasing the side-slip angle when rolling with a nominal load is greater both in magnitude and in the rate of its growth than of а the driven wheel; power losses for slipping when rolling a wheel with the tire 30.5R-32 in driving are to 37...46%, and for resistance to self–movement – 54 ...63% of all energy costs.

Introduction. The implementation of automated weather stations facilitated by Internet of Things (IoT) technologies represents a significant advancement in smart agriculture. Modern web services and applications using the data of IoT-based automated weather stations provide users with representative meteorological data on climatic conditions in real time to enhance the field operations management and reduce risks from changing in meteorological conditions. An important aspect of collecting and analyzing up-to-date meteorological information is the development of user-friendly interfaces.

Aim of the Study. The study is aimed at developing and testing a hardware-software complex with a web interface for displaying local meteorological monitoring data with the frequency of data displaying at least once per hour.

Materials and Methods. The study employs modern web development tool – ASP.NET Core MVC platform to achieve the target tasks. There has been developed an experimental prototype of the low-cost IoT automated weather station to collect data on local weather conditions during the growing season. There has been also developed the hardware and software architecture of the IoT automated weather station. The Raspberry Pi Zero microcomputer provides execution of scripts for polling a multi-channel combined weather sensor in the Java programming language for recording in a local and remote PostgreSQL database management system. The graphs of local weather parameters dynamics have been implemented based on the ApexCharts JavaScript library. In the field conditions, there have been studied the energy consumption and battery charge dynamics of the IoT automated weather station from a solar panel.

Results. The algorithm for information retrieval from a database and displaying graphs and tables on a website using a web application has been developed and tested. The key code blocks with comments are presented, and an algorithm for deploying a web application on the Internet is described. A frontend for a web application for visualizing IoT automated weather station data has been developed. The dynamics of meteorological conditions obtained by the IoT automated weather station are presented, and the results of comparing individual indicators with data from open sources are presented. The web application has been tested and deployed on a hardware server with Internet access. This paper presents a comprehensive review of recent advancements in smart weather stations; a comparative analysis of software technologies for real-time weather monitoring data visualization is conducted.

Discussion and Conclusion. The results of field tests of the IoT automated weather station and web application in 2024 showed high system performance, minimal delays under adverse environmental conditions (heavy rain, wind, low and high temperatures), stable database filling and display of weather conditions graphs on the website. The developed IoT automated weather station, built on a modular principle, with a combined weather sensor, is more compact and cost-effective compared to ready-made solutions existing on the market. Continuous information flow and open hardware architecture ensures the autonomy of the system due to battery recharging from a solar panel and a sleep mode algorithm. In the future, it is planned to calibrate the combined sensor in laboratory conditions to improve the accuracy of readings, or replace the combined sensor with classic mechanical sensors with minor changes in the hardware and software platform. To work with dynamic models of the production process, it is planned to add an interface and field sensors to the system.

Introduction. Present calculations of greenhouse gas emissions follow IPCC estimates, which use the aggregated calculation methods and do not reflect the country-specific details, so they do not give a true picture of the current situation in agriculture. Assessment depends on calculation accuracy, improvable through taking into account Russia-specific technologies and on actual measurements during manure processing.

Aim of the Study. The study is aimed at quantifying greenhouse gas emissions with an experimental setup that simulates real conditions of processing young cattle bedding manure by composting.

Materials and Methods. For the study there was used a validated experimental setup with a sealed ventilated chamber. The setup simulated the technology for composting young cattle bedding manure in terms of its natural heating and measured concentrations of climate-active substances. The study had three repetitions across four temperature modes. The study included the preparatory stage (chemical analysis, weighing and loading of manure); main stage (simulation of processing conditions and monitoring of pollutant concentrations); and final stage (manure unloading and weighing). The study measured the gas content with the use of the four-channel gas analyzer ELAN Plus. The study analyzed the experimental data via Microsoft Excel. Statistical significance was evaluated using Student's t-test.

Results. The concentrations of ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, methane and carbon dioxide in young cattle manure emissions were determined with the use of four temperature modes. Mean concentrations are within standard deviation intervals confirming statistical reliability.

Discussion and Conclusions. The analytical literature review was used to choose the optimal configuration of an experimental setup. Measured gas concentrations showed statistical correlation with comparable published researches. Future work requires deve­loping a computational model, which takes into account diverse technologies for handling manure and makes possible the conversion of greenhouse gas concentrations to specific emission factors.

Introduction. The main direction of economic development is creating innovative technologies and products, which can be competitive in the global market. The production of crop products is impossible without using the most energy-intensive technology of moldboard plowing, which has a strong effect on yielding ability in arid regions.

Aim of the Study. The study is aimed at determining the operational and technological indicators of the production plow PNL-8-40 and the newly designed plow PBS-8M to reduce energy consumption and improve the agrophysical properties of the tilled soil.

Materials and Methods. The operational and technological indicators of tilling soil  process with the production plow PNL-8-40 and the newly designed plow PBS-8M were determined using standard research methods. According to the standard used by the Association of agricultural machinery test-engineers (СТО АИСТ 4.1-2010), there were defined the functional parameters of the plows: working speed, effective operating width, productivity per hour of main time, and per-hectare fuel consumption. In accordance with СТО АИСТ 001-2010, there was made the agronomic assessment of plowing qua­lity. There we assessed the plowing depth, ridgeness of treated soil surface, degree and depth of plowing in stubble.

Results. As a result of the study, there has been assessed the expediency of using the wide-coverage plow PBS-8M in the arid conditions of the left-bank area of the Volga region. There have been theoretically calculated and experimentally tested the operational indicators of plowing units. The productivity of the eight-furrow plow PBL-8M at a speed of 2.53 m/s and a plowing depth of 23 cm per hour is 30–33% more than the productivity of the eight-body plow PBL-8-40 with a less (by 22%) fuel consumption. According to the agrotechnical evaluation of technologies, the compared plows differ in the degree of trash embedding plant and crop residues along the depth of the plowing layer. The indicators of the soil density and water permeability parameters are almost equal.

Discussion and Conclusions. As a result of using the new designed plow PBS-8M for cultivating heavy loamy soil, energy consumption is reduced while the agro-physical properties of the soil are improved. The plowing unit K-701+PBS-8M, moving at a working speed of 2.53 m/s, completes the work in space of an hour of basic operation time with a productivity of 3.9 ha/h. When using the unit K-701+PNL-8-40 in this operation mode, the productivity is 2.6 ha/h. When using the unit K-701+PBS-8M, fuel consumption is reduced to 3.8 kg per a hectare compared to the use of the unit K-701+PNL-8-40. The studies of the quality of the soil tillage showed that the soil tillage with both plows is of even depth of 23.0–23.4 cm across the full working width. The deviation of the working width from the designed width was 4.0% for each plow. The field surface ridge index was 6.9–8.2 cm. The technological parameters of the plows differed only in the degree of embedding millet plant and crop residues into the soil. After passing the plow PBS-8M, the stubble was distributed in a layer of 5–12 cm at a depth of 8–15 cm, after passing the plow PNL-8-40, the stubble was closer to the bottom of the furrow from 12 to 22 cm. The indicators of soil density and water permeability determined, after steam cultivation and before sowing winter wheat, were almost equal the studied plows that affected the resulting crop yield of 23.5–24.0 c/ha.

Introduction. The development of the agro-industrial complex until 2030 requires increasing the efficiency of the machine and tractor fleet with account for corrosion processes accelerating equipment wear. Existing assessment methods are based on empirical data and do not provide accurate forecasting. The introduction of AI and digital solutions will automate testing, reduce costs and improve the accuracy of assessing degradation caused by corrosion processes.

Aim of the Study. The aim is to determine the compliance of experimental data on the effect of salt spray on the corrosion of agricultural machinery components with the distribution law through the example of reversing light switches.

Materials and Methods. The object of study was reversing light switches widely used in agricultural machinery. The studies were carried out in a salt spray chamber with parame­ters corresponding to GOST R 52230 and GOST 9.302 for 200 hours with intermediate inspections every 48 hours. During the tests, the degree of corrosion was determined, calculated by the area of damaged sections. Using mathematical methods there was calculated the mean deviation, median, variance, standard deviation, skewness, kurtosis, and range of the sample.

Results. As a result of the tests, the operability of the samples was confirmed and the obtained data compliance with the Weibull distribution law was assessed. It was experimentally established that the active phase of surface degradation of reversing light switches increases starting from 96 hours of exposure in the salt spray chamber that is caused by the destruction of protective coatings and progress of pitting corrosion. The use of a quadratic regression model made it possible to describe the dependence of corrosion damage on exposure time.

Discussion and Conclusion. The statistical analysis of the sample confirmed Weibull distribution fit that makes it possible to predict further corrosion progress and improve performance assessment of products in salt spray conditions. Obtained parameters allow predicting the resource of components. The results of the study provide a basis for crea­ting digital twins and adaptive maintenance systems using artificial intelligence, which minimize machinery downtime.

Introduction. Photovoltaic thermal collectors are a promising technology capable of gene­rating electricity and recovering heat energy. However, the operating temperatures of photovoltaic cells are typically too high for efficient operation. One way to mitigate this problem is to use phase materials and conductive structures as an approach to improving thermal regulation and overall efficiency.

Aim of the Study. This paper aims to evaluate the suitability of aluminum foam fins and phase materials in improving the performance of an air-cooled photovoltaic collector and, more importantly, the impact of these materials on thermal and electrical yields. An aluminum foam frame was fabricated and placed on the back of a solar panel to serve as a heat dissipation medium.

Materials and Methods. To ensure consistency in experimental tests, experimental tests were conducted under both summer and winter operating conditions, and performance parameters were tested and compared with available studies to determine reliability.

Results. The results revealed that the overall performance of the photovoltaic thermal collector ranged from 43.07 to 50.35% in summer and from 47.94 to 51.53% in winter. These results demonstrate that the incorporation of aluminum foam fins has a significant impact on thermal management and energy conversion efficiency compared to conventional photovoltaic thermal systems.

Discussion and Conclusion. In summary, this study demonstrates that photovoltaic thermal air collectors with phased materials represent a practical and effective approach to renewable energy practices, offering improved operational stability and increased energy production. The study also demonstrates the potential of hybrid photovoltaic thermal systems as a platform for sustainable energy development.