design and construction of load cell of a three point hitch dynamometer for tractor john deere 3140

measurement of the values of forces in tractor arms is of great importance due to draft of agricultural equipment. these values can be used for testing and evaluation of the agricultural machinery, selection of suitable tractor, etc. the tools which are used for measurement of the forces are called dynamometer. the main objective of the present study was to design and evaluate a load cell for integral three point hitch john deere 3140 tractor. these load cells are installed on the bottom links and measured draft forces. the sensitive parts of these load cells are square side pins on which some strain gages were installed and the force was measured. this load cells do not have the errors usually faced with in other load cells such as reciprocal sensitivity and hitch point movement. besides, their manufacturing cost is very lower than the other similar load cells.