Development of PTO torque transducer based on an embedded digital wireless system for the 2WD tractor

The power take-off (PTO) torque measuring system was designed, which includes a torque transducer and a digital wireless system to receive, process, and display the observed PTO torque. A dynamic PTO torque transducer was developed using strain gauges to fit in between the PTO shaft of the tractor and the universal shaft of the implement and simulated using SolidWorks software with 1000 Nm twisting moment along with 100 N load. To transmit torque signals from the revolving PTO shaft, an embedded system was developed. The embedded system was tested in the laboratory and under actual field conditions. The digital wireless embedded system comprised an amplifier cum analog to digital converter to amplify the received signal from the torque transducer and convert it into a digital value. A microcontroller processes the digital value given by the amplifier, and radio frequency (RF) receiver module was mounted on the Xbee explorer to receive the transmitted data from the RF module of signal processing and transmitter unit. The developed system was tested under field conditions, and data were compared with the existing commercial torque transducer. The results showed that the relative deviation between the observed mean PTO torque values obtained from the developed torque transducer and that from the existing torque transducer was 8.57% and 9.06% at 2.5 km/h and 3.5 km/h, respectively.