Selçuk Arslan

Personal noise exposures of operators of agricultural tractors

Approximately one million agricultural tractors are used in Turkey for crop production and about one-third of the population lives in rural areas. The objectives of this study were to determine sound pressure levels, A-weighted sound pressure levels, and the permissible exposure time for tractors without cabins, field-installed cabins, and original cabins at ear level of agricultural tractor operators for following machines: plows, cultivators, top soil cultivators, rotary tillers, tool combinations (harrow+roller), mechanical drills, pneumatic drills, chemical applicators, fertilizer applicators, drum mowers, balers, and forage harvesters. Variance analyses showed that type of operation, type of cabins, and operation x cabin interactions were statistically significant (P<0.01) both for sound pressure levels and equivalent (A-weighted) sound pressure levels. The use of original cabins had a greater effect in decreasing average sound pressures and resulted in more efficient noise insulation, especially at higher center frequencies compared to field-installed cabins whereas field-installed cabins proved to be more favorable compared to tractors without cabins. Sound pressure levels at 4000Hz center frequency was reduced 2-13dB and 4-18dB by using a field-installed cabin and an original cabin, respectively. The measured A-weighted equivalent sound pressure levels were compared to the threshold limit level, and was concluded that depending on the cabin types used, the operators could usually work from 4 to 6h a day without suffering from noise induced inconveniences while 2-3h is permissible for plowing and forage harvesting on tractors without cabins. Due to timeliness considerations in agricultural machine operations, a farmer would not be willing to interrupt the operation based on permissible exposure time set by the standards. Based on the findings of this study, particularly an original cabin is recommended to reduce machine-induced noise below the danger limit during agricultural machine operations. Personal protection devices should be used when tractors are operated without cabins, which could reduce A-weighted equivalent sound pressure levels by 10-45dB(A).

Particulate Matter Exposure in Agriculture

World Health Organization (WHO) defines agriculture as all kinds of activity concerning growing, harvesting, and primarily processing of all kinds of crops; with breeding, raising and caring for animals; and with tending gardens and nurseries (Jager, 2005). Agriculture is estimated to have the greatest labor force in the world with over one billion people and employs about 450 million waged woman and men workers (FAO-ILO-IUF, 2005). Agriculture requires a wide variety of operations in order to meet the food, feed, and fiber demands of mankind, requiring specific tasks in the fields, orchards, greenhouses, animal production facilities, and in the agriculture based industry. The methods of production, mechanization levels and labor needs differ significantly in each work setting. Post-harvest operations including grain processing, fruit and vegetable sorting, packaging, and meat processing add different types of operations to the conventional agricultural production practices. In agri-industry, feed mills, flour mills, cotton ginners, textile industry, etc have different nature in processes involved.

Measurement of Personal PM10, PM2.5 and PM1.0 Exposures in Tractor and Combine Operations

The objective of this study was to determine the PM10, PM2.5, and PM1.0 exposure levels of tractor and combine harvester operators in rotary tilling, disc-harrowing, soil packing, planting, fertilizing, harvesting, hay making, and bale making and to determine PM-health effect on operators. The gravimetric method was used to determined PM concentrations. PM10 concentrations were higher than the threshold limit value (15000 µg m - ³) determined by OSHA in rotary tilling (25770 µg m - ³ ), wheat harvesting (29300 µg m - ³ ), and hay making (24640 µg m - ³ ). Similarly, PM2.5 concentrations were also greater than the threshold limit (5000 µg m - ³) in these operations (respectively with 5888, 10560, 8470 µg m - ³). PM1.0 concentration was too high, especially in wheat harvest and hay making (respectively with 3130 and 6026 µg m - ³ ), and was even greater than the PM2.5 threshold limit during hay making. It is probable for such high PM concentrations of fine particles to increase the respiratory system nuisances. PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations were measured to be lower than the thresholds in all other field applications. A questionnaire was done on forty operators and upper and lower respiratory disturbances and smoking habits were determined. Sixty three percent of operators were smokers, and complain about coughing with 60% and phlegm with 83%. Health complaint about tightness in the chest is 31% and breathlessness is about 29%. Nevertheless, when smokers and non-smokers are evaluated separately, coughing rate decreases to 47% and tightness in the chest reduces to 13%. Although exposure to particulate matters is important in its effect on respiratory system disturbances, smoking habit aggravates the complaints. Operators need to use personal preventions to avoid such adverse health effects when operating tractors and combine harvesters without cabins. Operators are unlikely to work in the comfort zone due to high ambient temperature and low relative humidity in vehicles without cabins.

A Comparison of the Heat and Mechanical Energy of a Heat-Pump Wind Turbine System

While a variety of applications of wind energy have been studied in Turkey, no significant efforts have been made to utilize heat pumps for heat generation. The use of heat pumps in wind energy systems is worth considering because of the high efficiency of heat production. In this study, a directly coupled wind turbine-heat pump system was designed, constructed, and tested. Measurements determined the mechanical energy of the rotors of the wind turbine and the heat energy generated by the heat pump driven by the rotor shaft. Based on the comparisons between the power generated by the heat pump and the power of the Savonius rotors, it was found that the heat energy gained by the heat pump was four times greater than the mechanical energy obtained from the turbine. It was suggested that heat pumps could be efficiently used in wind energy systems.