Design and development of Digital Fuel Economizer

Abstract

Fuel consumption is the single largest variable cost during field operation of tractors and also one of the most influential parameters controlling the salability of the vehicle, particularly in developing countries. Hence there is a great need for development of a system which can minimize the fuel consumption at any given load for a tractor. The system is required to design by keeping in mind the low education level of farmers of developing countries like India and natural aversion of these farming communities towards complex system during cumbersome field operation. Therefore the prime objective of this paper was to design and develop a simple digital fuel economizer (DFE) system for developing countries like India. Gear-up-throttle-down (GUTD) technique to match the load on tractor during field operation is a popular means to have better fuel economy. The new DFE system was designed to work like a GUTD guidance system. A microcontroller, inductive type proximity sensor and an analog to digital converter have been used to develop the DFE system.