Proposal of an advanced facility for testing the static stability of agricultural machinery

A critical analysis of actual tests and test-facilities used for inquiring the static stability of agricultural machines has been the starting point for a conceptual-design process: it has allowed defining an innovative test solution named the tilting turntable. This test device is composed by a circular support, installed on a tiltable structure and capable to rotate around a vertical axis by 360° with a vehicle positioned on it. Some sensors allow: (1) localizing the vehicle’s centre of gravity, (2) measuring the load distribution/transfer at different positions of the vehicle’s longitudinal axis with respect to the maximum slope direction and, even, (3) quantifying the trim change and downstream-tire(s) flattening. The tilting turntable is part of the test facility that will be installed within the “Agroforestry Innovation Laboratory” of the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, located at the upcoming “NOI - Technology Park”.