Abstract
The relevance of this study lies in the global demand to increase the energy efficiency of agricultural implements while maintaining high agronomic performance. The purpose of the article was to analytically assess the effect of furrow profile parameters on the operational energy performance of tillage tools, using double-disc openers as an example. The methodology was based on geometric modelling of the working components of the coulter in a Cartesian coordinate system, derivation of parametric equations for furrow contours, and analytical calculation of the furrow cross-sectional area depending on tillage depth, disc diameter, and disc alignment angles. The study demonstrated that the furrow area for discs with a 350 mm diameter increased from 415 mm² to 4106 mm² as the tillage depth rose from 20 mm to 80 mm. With a fixed depth of 50 mm and angles α =50°, β =20°, the furrow area varied from 1762 mm² to 1935 mm² as the disc diameter changed from 300 mm to 400 mm. A quadratic approximation formula was proposed to express this dependence. The results showed that reducing the tillage depth from 50 mm to 45 mm led to a decrease in furrow area from 1851 mm² to 1277 mm², while increasing the depth to 55 mm resulted in an increase to 2516 mm². The influence of disc inclination angles on the cross-sectional area was also demonstrated: decreasing the angles to α=40° and β=15° reduced the area to 1522 mm². The proposed approach enabled further configuration optimisation of coulters under real conditions. The methodology presented in this publication makes it possible to determine the most rational configuration of tillage tools for the existing circumstances through appropriate analysis