Crop protection is mostly carried out spraying active chemical agents with potential impact on the health of environment, operator and consumer. Recently the European Commission played an important role in the protection of the operator with respect to hazardous substances during spray application. An active protection offered by tractor cab is a new requirement when the machine is used in the crop protection. The solution to be adopted by the tractor manufacturers is the fitment of cab with an air delivery and filtration system. The subject is quite recent but a dedicated standard has been developed, the EN 15695:2009, to define the testing procedure to evaluate the performance of these cabs. However some lacks of information are evident in the standard application and only few prototypes of cabs which provides protection against dust, aerosols and vapors fitted on self-propelled sprayers are nowadays on the market. The goal of the work has been to design and test in field a cab prototype with an air delivery and filtration system fitted on a narrow-track tractor for orchard and vineyard. Two years test was carried out. Firstly a cab was designed and fitted on the tractor starting from a commercial model already existing, modifying completely the roof in order to locate the new larger active carbon filters required by the European standard. Then the tractor-cab platform was completely isolated in order to reach the required pressure level into the cab. Once the cab was ready and the standard requirements were fulfilled the tractor was tested in orchard and vineyard for one year at the experimental farm of the University of Bologna. The results of the tests showed a positive performance for the prototype but highlighted the need to improve the standardised procedure with additional points on the advisable use and maintenance of the cab during the normal field operation. A crucial issue is the performance evaluation of the active carbon filters in use on agricultural tractors because the exposition of filters to external environmental conditions and the use of water mixed with pesticides seems to strongly affect the filter duration.
TRACTOR CAB TO PROTECT THE OPERATOR FROM HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES IN SPRAY APPLICATION / Enrico Capacci; Valda Rondelli. - ELETTRONICO. - (2014), pp. C0372.1-C0372.8. (Intervento presentato al convegno International Conference of Agricultural Engineering - AgEng 2014 Zurich tenutosi a Zurich nel 6-10 July 2014).
TRACTOR CAB TO PROTECT THE OPERATOR FROM HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES IN SPRAY APPLICATION
CAPACCI, ENRICO;RONDELLI, VALDA
2014
Abstract
Crop protection is mostly carried out spraying active chemical agents with potential impact on the health of environment, operator and consumer. Recently the European Commission played an important role in the protection of the operator with respect to hazardous substances during spray application. An active protection offered by tractor cab is a new requirement when the machine is used in the crop protection. The solution to be adopted by the tractor manufacturers is the fitment of cab with an air delivery and filtration system. The subject is quite recent but a dedicated standard has been developed, the EN 15695:2009, to define the testing procedure to evaluate the performance of these cabs. However some lacks of information are evident in the standard application and only few prototypes of cabs which provides protection against dust, aerosols and vapors fitted on self-propelled sprayers are nowadays on the market. The goal of the work has been to design and test in field a cab prototype with an air delivery and filtration system fitted on a narrow-track tractor for orchard and vineyard. Two years test was carried out. Firstly a cab was designed and fitted on the tractor starting from a commercial model already existing, modifying completely the roof in order to locate the new larger active carbon filters required by the European standard. Then the tractor-cab platform was completely isolated in order to reach the required pressure level into the cab. Once the cab was ready and the standard requirements were fulfilled the tractor was tested in orchard and vineyard for one year at the experimental farm of the University of Bologna. The results of the tests showed a positive performance for the prototype but highlighted the need to improve the standardised procedure with additional points on the advisable use and maintenance of the cab during the normal field operation. A crucial issue is the performance evaluation of the active carbon filters in use on agricultural tractors because the exposition of filters to external environmental conditions and the use of water mixed with pesticides seems to strongly affect the filter duration.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
