I'm looking for recommendations on a project I want to explore. I have a large mower deck (10'wide") that is belt driven by two V belts. The deck is pulled by a tractor. The problem is I have a constant problem with the belts overheating when the deck is driven through high grass, too fast. Obviously I can slow down, but this deck isn't the best design and I need to get as much out of it as possible given it's design limitations.
The deck has a driven pulley given power by the PTO shaft on the tactor and a gear box. The blades are attached to two driven pulleys. The tractor and PTO unit move the drive pulley on the mower deck regardless of load (125hp tractor). When the load increases on the blades, the belts slip, thus heating them up. They heat up instantly, so my idea was either a) measure for slippage or b) monitor belt temperatures. Temperature monitoring may be simpler than installing encoders, so that is the way I'm leaning. We're also designing a couple of idler pulleys to better maintain constant tension on the belts -- but that is another project. Getting back to the temperature sensors...
I'd like to be able to monitor the belt temperatures real time and have that displayed in the tractor cab so I can know when the belts are pushing their limits and I need to slow down. My idea is to utilize two remote I/R sensors, one monitoring the back side of each belt as it passes over the driven pulleys. Several questions come to mind before embarking on this experiment and I would greatly appreciate inputs from the group...
- What I/R sensors? I've seen a coupe on the net. Possible Sparkfun MLX90614?
- Has anyone utilized this type of setup monitoring a driven belt drive? i.e. a moving belt?
- Since I want to monitor two sensors and send that info to the Cab, I'm thinking one Arduino unit on the deck and a remote unit in the cab. Can I use a Uno for this, or would I need a Mega?
Thanks for you input...
Dave