THE EFFECT OF TIRE PRESSURE ON FUEL CONSUMPTION DURING TRACTOR-PLOUGH OPERATION.

In the world today, due to the high cost of running a tractor on a farm, there has been many research to see ways of minimizing this cost. Some of these cost come from the tire of the tractor, amount of fuel needed to run the vehicle smoothly, buying spare parts of the tractor and ensuring safety of the tractor. This thesis seeks to find the effect that tire pressures of vehicles have on the fuel consumption and the various ways of reducing this effect if there are any.

An experiment was conducted in two parts. Firstly to find out the relation between tire pressure and contact area. This was done in relation to rolling resistance of the tire due to deviations in tire pressure. Secondly a field experiment to determine the effect of pressure on fuel consumption was conducted.

It was found out from the test that tire pressure has a greater part to play in fuel consumption. From the result a pressure at 10kPa consumed 5.3 liters of fuel per hour which was more than that of 40kPa that consumed just 3.5 liters/hour. It was also found out from the results that the 40kPa covered 2.528m2 which is less than the 10kPa which covered 2.9928m2. It can be seen that the lower the pressure the greater the contact area and increase in rolling resistance which leads to high fuel consumption. As such more money is spent on fuel.

In each reading value were taken for level of pressure, time, fuel consumed and contact area respectfully.

In all it was seen from the research that any deviation in tire pressure of tractors result in an additional fuel consumed by the tractors.