Ground Driven Powered Tillage

ABSTRACT Aground driven powered tillage device is described which utilizes a passive rolling coulter propelled through the soil by a prime mover. The reaction torque imparted by the soil to the coulter is delivered via a tor-que transfer unit to a powered tillage blade. The tillage blade rotates counter to the direction of the passive roll-ing coulter and prepares a tilled furrow of some predeter-mined depth for seed placement and coverage. Analysis is presented in which the torque developed by a passive rolling coulter engaging the soil is predicted. A relationship is presented for determining the velocity ratio between the coulter and tillage blade. Finally, the shape and number of teeth a tillage blade has is express-ed in terms of tillage depth and speed of the tillage blade.