Citation: Cardei, P.; Constantin, N.;
Muraru, V.; Persu, C.; Sfiru, R.;
Vladut, N.-V.; Ungureanu, N.;
Matache, M.; Muraru-Ionel, C.;
Cristea, O.-D.; et al. The Random
Vibrations of the Active Body of the
Cultivators. Agriculture 2023, 13, 1565.
https://doi.org/10.3390/
agriculture13081565
Academic Editors: Jin He and
Caiyun Lu
Received: 25 April 2023
Revised: 26 July 2023
Accepted: 31 July 2023
Published: 4 August 2023
Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/).
agriculture
Article
The Random Vibrations of the Active Body of the Cultivators
Petru Cardei
1
, Nicolae Constantin
2
, Vergil Muraru
1,
*, Catalin Persu
1
, Raluca Sfiru
1
, Nicolae-Valentin Vladut
1
,
Nicoleta Ungureanu
2,
* , Mihai Matache
1
, Cornelia Muraru-Ionel
1
, Oana-Diana Cristea
1
and Evelin-Anda Laza
1
1
National Institute of Research—Development for Machines and Installations Designed for Agriculture and Food
Industry—INMA, 013811 Bucharest, Romania; petru_cardei@yahoo.com (P.C.); persu@inma.ro (C.P.);
raluca_sfiru@yahoo.com (R.S.); vladut@inma.ro (N.-V.V.); matache@inma.ro (M.M.);
cornelia.muraru.ionel@gmail.com (C.M.-I.); diana10.cristea@gmail.com (O.-D.C.);
eveline_anda@yahoo.com (E.-A.L.)
2
Department of Biotechnical Systems, Faculty of Biotechnical Systems Engineering, National University of
Science and Technology Politehnica Bucharest, 060042 Bucharest, Romania; nicu.constantin49@yahoo.com
* Correspondence: virgil.muraru@gmail.com (V.M.); nicoleta.ungureanu@upb.ro (N.U.);
Tel.: +40-7-4435-7250 (V.M.)
Abstract: The article continues the exposition of the results obtained in researching an agricultural
machine for processing soil, designed for research with applications including exploitation. The MCLS
(complex machine for soil tillage) was designed to research the working processes of the instruments
intended for soil processing. The MCLS cultivator is a modulated machine (it can work for three
working widths: 1, 2, and 4 m, with tractors of different powers) that is designed to use a wide range
of working bodies. The experimental data obtained with the structure with a working width of 1m
and the results of their processing within the framework of the theory of random vibrations are
presented in this article. The experimental results are analysed as random vibrations of the supports
of the active working bodies. As a result, the main characteristics of random vibrations are exposed:
the distribution function, the average value, the autocorrelation, and the frequency spectrum. These
general results regarding random vibrations are used for several critical applications in the design,
execution, and exploitation of some subassemblies and assemblies of agricultural machines of this
type. The main applications include estimating the probability of the occurrence of dangerous load
peaks, counting and selecting the load peaks that produce fatigue accumulation in the material of the
supports of the working bodies, identifying some design deficiencies or defects in the work regime,
and estimating the effects of vibrations on the quality of soil processing. All of the outcomes are
composed of applications in MCLS research and exploitation. The applications pursue well-known
objectives of modelling the working processes of agricultural machines: safety at work, increasing the
quality of work, optimising energy consumption, and increasing productivity, all in a broad context
to obtain a compromise situation. The material and the method are based on experimental data
acquisition, processing, and interpretation.
Keywords: random; vibrations; tillage; tools; complex; cultivator
1. Introduction
The phenomena and work processes encountered in agriculture involve, for the most
part, important areas of the field of biology (environment, soil, plants, animals, etc.), which
is “living”. According to all the assessments in the literature, the field of life is a field of un-
predictability, uncertainty, randomness, and probability. According to [1], “understanding
randomness is essential for modern life, as it underpins decisions under uncertainty”.
Random phenomena are treated in physics through theories different from determin-
istic ones, using the concepts of probability theory and statistics. In [2], it is shown that “in
mechanical engineering, random vibration is motion that is non-deterministic, meaning
that future behaviour cannot be precisely predicted. The randomness is a characteristic
Agriculture 2023, 13, 1565. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13081565 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/agriculture