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138 December, 2021 AgricEngInt: CIGR Journal Open access at http://www.cigrjournal.org Vol. 23, No.4
Development and evaluation of laser-controlled chisel plough
Rashad A. Hegazy 1*, Ahmed M. El-Sheikha 2
(1. Agricultural Engineering Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Kafrelsheikh University 33516, Egypt;
2. Agricultural Engineering Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Damietta University, Damietta, 34511, Egypt)
Abstract: The main purpose of this study is to improve the tillage operational efficiency of a chisel plough through the use of
laser levelling technology. Such technology can help farmers attain consistent tilled layer depth throughout the entire field. A
modified laser control unit was attached to chisel plough and it coupled with a hydraulic system. Under the current modification,
the laser unit, as it communicates with the receiver tower, would be able to adjust the ploughing depth. The readings of point
levels for the subsurface layer were taken at a grid spacing of 5.0 m × 5.0 m, a resolution commonly used to show the changes in
soil topography. The experiment was repeated in three plots, 1-hectare each. Irrigation water advance times and total applied
irrigation water amounts were recorded and used as indicator of the performance of the developed prototype and to evaluate the
effect of laser controlled ploughing on flood irrigation efficiency. Results indicated that the use of laser-controlled chisel plough
improved field level and proper tilled layer enabling other field machines to work in a stable depth of tilled layers. After using
the laser-controlled chisel plough, the elevation (relative to the reference point) ranged from 34.0 cm to 43.0 cm with an average
recorded value of 39.8 cm and a standard deviation of 0.990 cm. Using the regular plough resulted in relative elevation values,
which ranged from 22.0 cm to 52.0 cm with an average elevation value of 39.4 cm and a standard deviation of 5.7 cm. Irrigation
water advance times were shorter with plots that were ploughed using the laser-controlled chisel. Total applied irrigation water
was 8468 m3 ha-1 and 9835 m3 ha-1 for plots where the normal chisel plough and laser-controlled chisel plough were used
respectively.
Keywords: land leveler, hydrophobic laser-controlled plough, precision land leveling, uniform tilled soil
Citation: Hegazy, R. A., and A. M. El-Sheikha. 2021. Development and evaluation of laser-controlled chisel plough.
Agricultural Engineering International: CIGR Journal, 23(4): 138-147.
1 Introduction
Agricultural technologies have several significant
impacts on the economy and society locally, regionally
and nationally from different aspects (Yang, 2005).
Tohidyan Far and Rezaei-Moghaddam (2020) revealed
that experts considered uniform distribution of water,
using conservation tillage, facilitating agricultural
activities, decreased water consumption and decrease of
water wasting as the most important technical impacts of
laser levelling technology. The most environmentally
Received date: 2020-08-19 Accepted date: 2021-02-25
*Corresponding author: Rashad A. Hegazy, Agricultural
Engineering Department, Faculty of Agriculture Kafrelsheikh
University, 33516, Egypt. Tel: +21000870898. E-mail:
rashad.hegazy@agr.kfs.edu.eg.
important impacts were the decrease of soil erosion and
retention of crop residues. Experts stated the most
significant social impacts as improvement in villages
living conditions and sense of belonging to rural areas. A
lot of studies highlighted the impacts of the laser land
levelling technology. Different studies have confirmed
that laser levelling technology decreases farming costs
(Abdullaev et al., 2007; Gulati et al., 2017). Laser land
levelling enhance the use of nutritious materials and
reduce chemical fertilizers consumption (Jat et al., 2006;
González et al., 2009). In addition to reducing the
amount of seeds and increasing yield with less fuel
consumption used for pumping water and agricultural
machinery (Jehangir et al. 2007). Aryal and Jat (2015)
listed preferable returns such as increasing yields and
reducing greenhouse gas emissions, where, laser land
December, 2021 Development and evaluation of laser-controlled chisel plough Vol. 23, No.4 139
levelling considerably lowers irrigation time for rice by
47-69 hours per hectare per season and for wheat by 10-
12 hours per hectare per season and it increased yields
by an average 8% for both crops. They showed that laser
land levelling reduced greenhouse gas emissions from
saving on energy, reducing cultivation time and
increasing input efficiency. Sapkal et al. (2018) observed
that laser land levelling technology has the potential to
provide additional income to farmers and help in
conservation of scarce resources and suggested to raise
the knowledge level of the farmers along with more
exposure to the extension agencies to enhance the
adoption of laser land levelling. Furthermore, it can
improve the efficiency of agricultural mechanization and
lay the foundation for precise seeding and fertilization,
where, flat field surface can create favorable conditions
for machine transplanting, precision direct seeding, and
mechanical harvesting and can lay a solid foundation for
improving the degree of mechanization in production
(Luo et al., 2007; Maqsood and Khalil, 2013).
The control system of a normal laser leveling
machine is mainly composed of a laser transmitter, a
laser receiver, a controller, a hydraulic system, and a
scraper. A laser receiver installed on the scraper’s mast
is used to detect the deviation of the actual elevation of
the rotating laser from the expected elevation, and the
elevation deviation information is then used to control
the hydraulic system to drive the scraper to achieve
automatic lifting, thereby achieving accurate farmland
levelling (Xu et al., 2007). Modification of the normal
leveling system to meet specific requirements is not
studied enough. Laser controlled vertical scraper land
leveler for paddy fields has been developed and tested.
Using a tractor to supply power for a laser-controlled
land leveler can meet the demands of precision paddy
field leveling. Scrapers with a laser-controlled land
leveler for paddy fields are generally driven by a
hydraulic cylinder through a parallel four bar
mechanism, which drives the vertical motion of the
scraper for elevation adjustment (Yan et al., 2011; Hu et
al., 2014). However, due to the heavy weight of the land-
leveling scraper, the relative pressure difference between
raising and lowering the scraper is large, which severely
affects the response speed of the scraper’s elevation
hydraulic cylinder and the adjustment of the scraper’s
elevation. Another initiative was using small laser
controlled land levelers for paddy fields, by using a
transplanter’s chassis for power, but their use is limited
by their high cost, lower power, and lower operational
efficiency during leveling (Chen et al., 2014; Tang et al.,
2018). Hu et al. (2020) designed and evaluated a tractor-
attached laser-controlled rotary scraper land leveler for
paddy fields (TLRSLLPF).
Tests were conducted to characterize elevation
adjustment response times and accuracy and field trials
were performed to assess field-leveling performance.
Results indicated that the laser receiver signal of the
laser-controlled rotary scraper land leveler can
accurately reflect the scraper’s elevation motion. Also,
they showed that the standard deviation of the relative
elevations of the field decreased from 5.97 to 1.59 cm
and work efficiency was 8.7 mu h-1 (1 mu = 0.67 ha.),
which indicated that the proposed leveler worked
effectively and more efficiently than the rotary leveler.
So, in the current research work, the objective is to
utilize laser levelling technology in ploughing, where, a
chisel plough chassis was attached to a laser controlled
land leveler and the developed prototype was tested as a
tool to perform tillage and laser levelling in one field
operation. The main goal was to prepare a uniform
seedbed, which is good for germination, with relatively
lower difference in the tilled layer height compared to
the regular tillage operation.
2 Materials and methods
Field experiments were conducted at a private farm
in Dakahlia Governorate, Egypt in year 2019-2020. The
field had a clay soil with particle size distribution as in
Table 1.
Table 1 Particle size distribution and CaCO3 content
Depth,
mm
Sand %
Silt %
Clay %
Texture
Class
CaCO
3
2-0.02
mm
0.02-
0.002
mm
< 0.002
mm %
0-200
20.5
31.4
48.1
Clay Soil
1.6
200-400
21.5
30.8
47.7
Clay Soil
1.9
Experimental field consisted of 2 main plots, 1-
hectare each, located in 31.1656°N, 31.4913°E for the
140 December, 2021 AgricEngInt: CIGR Journal Open access at http://www.cigrjournal.org Vol. 23, No.4
measurements of soil elevation topography. Each main
plot was divided into 3 locations (1, 2, and 3) to replicate
the measurements of irrigation water advance times as
shown in Figure 1. The field was left to dry after the
harvest of the previous crop. After tillage, the soil was
levelled, and the field was planted with vegetable and
required data was collected accordingly.
Figure 1 Layout of the experimental field
Figure 2 The concept of using laser-controlled chisel plough: differences between using laser-controlled chisel plough and regular chisel
plough
2.1 Laser-controlled chisel plough unit
2.1.1 Principle of work and tilled layer elevation
When the soil is tilled with normal chisel plough, the
tilled soil layer is kept depending on the original
topographic profile and shape until a leveler is used to
remove the minor undulations in the field. But, when the
laser-controlled chisel plough is used, the tilled layer
would be relatively independent from the soil
topography (lower and higher parts) (Figure 2). When
the plough is higher than the set level, the controller
causes the elevation hydraulic cylinder to expand rapidly
to lower the plough’s elevation and maintain it at the set
level. Conversely, when the plough is lower than the set
level, the elevation hydraulic cylinder rapidly raises the
plough to its set elevation, Figure 3.
Laser-controlled chisel
Normal chisel tillage
Bottom of the tilled
Top of the tilled
Imaginary line after land
Untilled soil
Bottom of
the tilled
December, 2021 Development and evaluation of laser-controlled chisel plough Vol. 23, No.4 141
Figure 3 Theory behind using laser-controlled chisel plough: constant distance between the laser line from transmitter and the plough-soil
contact surface.
Figure 4 7-shares chisel plough used in the study
2.1.2 Chesil plough
In this study 7-share-chisel plough was used with
specifications of 1800 mm, 600 mm, 550 mm, and 240
kg as length, width, height, and weight, respectively, as
shown in Figure 4. All blades were quality materials and
were fixed at 90º rake angle shank and 20º chisel
entrance angle.
2.1.3 Laser control unit
The Laser transmitter is mounted on the ground (on a
tripod). Rugby 320 SG transmitter was used to generate
a long-range, rotating laser beam that can be accurately
and easily positioned to provide a control plane in the X-
axis (single grade) (Leica-geosystems, 2020), Figure 5. It
is the ideal transmitter for laser operated machine control
system and should work with any laser receiver,
although operating range varies depending on the
Signal receiver
Fixed tillage elevation
Laser signal transmitter
1 wheel adjustment system frame; 2
chisel blades; 3 main frame; 4
tractor hang supporting arm; 5
chisel shank
Plan view
5
4
3
2
1
Trimetric
Side view
Dim. in mm
142 December, 2021 AgricEngInt: CIGR Journal Open access at http://www.cigrjournal.org Vol. 23, No.4
specific receiver and jobsite conditions. The laser
receiver is omnidirectional, which is sensitive to the
transmitted laser beam. Other light being received is
usually filtered out mechanically or electronically. The
receiver has three different vertical sensing areas. The
middle sector indicates that the receiver is aligned with
the center of the transmitted beam; the top sector
indicates that the receiver is below grade and the bottom
sector indicates that the receiver is above grade. The
central "on grade" part of the receiver has two modes of
operation, which are "wide" and "narrow" band
operations. The wide band mode can reduce the number
of responses of the sensing system. This reduces wear on
the hydraulic system. The wide band mode makes it
easier to balance a paddock at the expense of the surface
finish. This can produce small reverse grades, especially
on the flatter slopes. The control box processes signals
from the machine mounted receiver. It displays these
signals to indicate the plough’s position relative to the
finished grade. When the control box is set to automatic,
it provides electrical output for driving the hydraulic
valve. The three control box switches are On/Off,
Auto/Manual, and Manual Raise/Lower (which allows
the operator to manually raise or lower the plough). The
hydraulic system of the tractor was used to supply oil to
raise and lower the plough. The oil supplied by the
tractor’s hydraulic pump is normally delivered at 140.9-
211.3 kg cm-2 pressure. As the hydraulic pump is a
positive displacement pump and always pumping more
oil than required, a pressure relief valve is needed in the
system to return the excess oil to the tractor’s reservoir.
Note: a) power button ; b) lcd display ; c) x-axis button ; d) up arrow button ; e) star button; f) down arrow button; g) circular level vial; h)
12-volt input; i) dual batteries; j) raised alignment sights and mounting plate for the optional sighting scope; k) easy grip handle; l) tripod
mount
Figure 5 Components of Leica Rugby-320-Sg rotating laser
2.1.4 Laser-controlled chisel plough
The overall structure of the laser-controlled chisel
plough is shown in Figure 6. Where, 7-share-chisel
plough was used to replace the land leveler with a
horizontal adjustment wheels fixed to the main frame of
the plough by three bearings. The lifting and lowering
process is controlled by a fixed arm with a hydraulic
cylinder connected to an automatic control device, which
receives the signal from the receiver fixed vertically on
the plough. Angle of penetration of the chisel shares was
adjusted to be within 20° degree, which increases the
vertical forces affecting the shares, which works to
attract the plough to the soil bottom, so that the function
of the horizontal control wheels is only to prevent the
plough from going deeper more than required. The
horizontal adjustment connector was installed between
the upper hitch point of the plough and plough
connecting arm to ensure the horizontal adjustment
according to the depth of ploughing. The new modified
tillage unit was attached to 6-cylinders Duetz tractor
with diesel engine of 100 kW at 2500 rpm.
December, 2021 Development and evaluation of laser-controlled chisel plough Vol. 23, No.4 143
Figure 6 Structure of the laser-controlled chisel plough
2.2 Measurement of different parameters (soil
elevation, topography, irrigation water advance times
and total applied irrigation water)
Experimental field was cleared from any crop
residues before performing the ploughing, a topographic
survey conducted to record the high and low spots in the
field by using ArcGIS pro and the profile validated with
OriginLab version 19b program (by generating 3-D map
of 400 points in field and showing the differences in
points elevations) to make surveying grid maps. Figure 7
shows method of surveying grid reading. The attitude
and heading reference system (AHRS) and GNSS data
were collected. A fixed reference point was set on the
side of experimental field. The lengths of the sides of the
field and the distances from the sides to the reference
point are measured using a measuring tape. Level was
used to establish or verify that points are in the same
horizontal plane and is used in conjunction with a
levelling staff to establish the relative heights levels of
objects or marks. The field was divided into a subsurface
grid. The intersection points (sub-surface flatness
sampling points) of the grid lines were marked (Zhou et
al., 2020). The position of each sampling point relative
to the reference point was measured using a measuring
tape. The elevations of reference point and the sampling
points were measured. A reference station for the GNSS
was set up. The antenna of the GNSS was placed at the
reference point. The World Geodetic System (WGS84)
coordinates of the reference point were recorded. The
measurement data of the AHRS and GNSS were
collected after using laser-controlled chisel plough and
normal plough. The readings were taken at a 5.0 m × 5.0
m grid spacing to achieve good precision in soil
elevations topography changes. To evaluate the effect of
Dim. in mm
1
9
8
7
6
4
5
3
2
1
1
1
1 one laser signal receiver; 2 three-beams
receiver support; 3 one receiver tower; 4 tractor;
5 chisel main frame; 6 four-wheel adjustment
system; 7 two-wheel axis ; 8 one adjustment
system; 9 two bearings; 10 one hydraulic
Trimetric view
144 December, 2021 AgricEngInt: CIGR Journal Open access at http://www.cigrjournal.org Vol. 23, No.4
using laser-controlled chisel plough on sub-surface
levelling and steadiness of the tilled layer height along
the entire field, total applied irrigation water was
recorded, and also irrigation water advance times (time
required for the water to advance to the end of the field
length or to cover the field completely) were recorded at
the middle and end of irrigation line for 100 m long
plots. The measurements of irrigation water advance
times were done after using the normal chisel plough or
using laser-based chisel plough.
Figure 7 Field grid of sub-surface flatness sampling points
3 Results and discussion
3.1 Effect of using laser-controlled chisel plough on
elevations of the tilled soil layer
Elevations of the top and bottom tilled soil layer are
presented in Figures 8 and 9. Figure 8 shows the three-
dimensional rendering of the field flatness after using
laser-controlled chisel plough. Relative elevation values
ranged from 34.0 cm to 43.0 cm with an average
recorded value of 39.8 cm and a standard deviation of
0.990 cm, which indicates an insignificant variation in
relative elevation when laser-controlled chisel plough is
used. Figure 9 shows the three-dimensional rendering of
the field flatness after using normal chisel plough.
Where, relative elevation values ranged from 22.0 cm to
52.0 cm with an average relative elevation value of 39.4
cm and a standard deviation of 5.7 cm, which indicates a
substantial difference in relative elevation when a
regular chisel plough is used.
Figure
8 Relative elevations of the tilled soil layer after using laser-
controlled chisel plough (a: ArcGIS pro, b: OriginLab version
19b)
(b)
(a)
In CM
Field length, 100 m
Field width, 100 m
December, 2021 Development and evaluation of laser-controlled chisel plough Vol. 23, No.4 145
Figure 9 Relative elevations of the tilled soil layer after using regular chisel plough (a: ArcGIS pro, b: OriginLab version 19b)
Figure 10 Irrigation water advance times for plots with laser-controlled chisel plough
Figure 11 Irrigation water advance times for plots with normal chisel plough
146 December, 2021 AgricEngInt: CIGR Journal Open access at http://www.cigrjournal.org Vol. 23, No.4
3.2 Effect of using laser-controlled chisel plough on
irrigation water advance times and total applied
irrigation water
Irrigation water advance time was recorded in two
points (middle and end of the field) for three different
locations (1, 2, and 3). Irrigation water advance times
were shorter with plots that were ploughed by using
laser-controlled chisel. The water advance times
recorded were 13.2, 16.5 min at middle and end of
irrigation line respectively for location 1, as shown in
Figure 10. For location 2 and 3 the data followed the
same trend with a little variation without insignificant
difference in recorded data. Total applied irrigation
water was 8468 m3 ha-1 (28.22 cm of water was applied
in each replication). Much longer irrigation water
advance time were observed in plots where the normal
chisel plough was used. Average advance times were
22.4, 28.7 min for middle and end of location 1. While,
location 2 and 3 recorded 19.8, 28.1 min and 21.6, 26.9
min water advance times, respectively (Figure 11). Total
applied irrigation water was 9835 m3 ha-1 (32.78 cm of
water was applied in each replication). Although, in both
cases, using regular or laser-controlled chisel plough,
there was a laser land levelling operation after a tillage
operation, but the variation in irrigation water advance
time is an indicator that the laser aided chisel plough is
superior to the regular one (better water application
efficiency).
4 Conclusions
Considering the uniform height of the sub-surface
tilled layer, the developed laser-controlled chisel plough
was successful. The system can utilize an existing laser
unit to perform a desirable tillage without leaving
untilled soils that can affect the quality of other
agricultural operations. Tilled soil elevation variation
was very limited using the developed system compared
to the regular chisel plough, which will make the seed
placement more consistent and will result in a better
yield. Irrigation water advance times were shorter with
plots that were ploughed using the developed laser-
controlled chisel, thus, it will lead to lower water use. In
this study, the water required for irrigation was reduced
by 14% when the developed prototype was used in the
land preparation compared the normal chisel ploughing.
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Nomenclature
AHRS: Attitude Heading Reference System
CaCO3: Calcium Carbonate
GNSS: Global Navigation Satellite System
LASER: light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation
TLRSLLPF: Tractor-Attached Laser-Controlled Rotary Scraper Land Leveler for Paddy Fields
WGS84: The World Geodetic System () coordinates
