Laboratory for Agricultural Engineering and Energetics

The Laboratory for Agricultural Engineering and Energetics is equipped with modern measuring equipment to perform the most demanding measurements on agricultural machinery and devices, as well as in agricultural process engineering. Within the laboratory, agricultural tractors, machinery, and equipment are specially adapted for the needs of experimental work, supporting research and development tasks for industry, demonstrations, educational purposes, etc.

The laboratory tests tractors, implements, self-propelled machinery, and other machines intended for work in arable farming, orcharding, viticulture, horticulture, etc. Part of the laboratory’s activities also includes the design and manufacture of sensors for the electrical measurement of mechanical quantities on agricultural machinery (forces, torque, pressure, displacement, rotational frequency, etc.).

Domestic and foreign experts participate in short-term and long-term specializations at the laboratory. Students from the Biotechnical Faculty Ljubljana, the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ljubljana, and the Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences Maribor complete experimental assignments for their theses within the framework of the laboratory.

Research equipment

• A 100 kW tractor
• A 110 kW tractor with hydromechanical transmission (continuously variable transmission) and GPS
• A 30 kW tractor
• A laboratory field vehicle that enables monitoring the operation of tractors and agricultural machinery in action
• A multi-purpose device for testing the energy efficiency and safety of agricultural machinery and tractors
• A dynamometer for determining tractor power via the power take-off and tractor engines
• A device for determining the static rollover angle of tractors and agricultural machinery
• A bevameter for determining the mechanical properties of soil (soil shear strength and specific soil resistance)
• A vertical penetrometer
• A horizontal towed penetrometer
• A device for field sampling of undisturbed soil samples using the soil drilling method (depth of 1.2 m)
• A device for calibrating dynamometers up to a nominal value of 25 t
• A device for determining the tearing strength of various materials for agricultural and forestry use
• Custom-designed and custom-built sensors for determining the losses of engaged tractor engine power during power transmission from the tractor to the ground or tractor implements
• Sensors for determining the draft force of tractor implements
• Sensors for determining the static and dynamic load on tractor wheels
• Tractor wheel slip sensors
• An experimental press for extracting oil from various plant seeds
• A device for the experimental production of oil from oilseed crops for energy purposes
• A device for the experimental production of biodiesel
• Spider Hottinger Baldwin Messtechnik measuring amplifiers for the electrical measurement of mechanical quantities

Contact