Lab of Agricultural mechanics

• Official OECD Testing Station for performance certification tests and the verification of the strength behaviour of protective structures in the event of the tractor rolling over and object falling over on agricultural and forestry tractors

• Research activity in the field of tractor and agricultural machinery.

Aerial view of the “Centro Didattico Sperimentale of Cadriano”: in evidence the track used for testing the agricultural machinery

In the academic year 1965-1966, about twenty years after its foundation, the Institute of Agricultural Mechanics, merged into the Department of Agricultural Economics and Engineering in January 1995 and now into the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, started the decentralization of part of its activities to the Experimental Educational Center of the Faculty of Agriculture, with the establishment of the homologation Center for Tractors and Agricultural Machinery, which later became the “Laboratorio di Meccanica Agraria”.

Besides academic lecturing and research activities, applied research and technical assistance to the tractor and machine manufacturers have been continuously carried out within the Laboratory since 1960.

In the specific field of homologation/certification, the Laboratory issued over 3300 test documents (or proof of conformity) at the end of 1990, which became over 6000 by the end of 2018.

In the context of these activities, the “Laboratorio di Meccanica Agraria”, recognized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as an official Testing Station for certification on agricultural and forestry tractor performance, for testing protective structures preventing driver from rolling-over events (ROPS) and for testing protective structures preventing tractor driver from falling objects (FOPS), has been among those with the highest efficiency rate in terms of release of certificates. By way of example, with reference to the data collected in the year 2019, the Laboratory ranks first with 26% of the total certificates issued worldwide.

In the context of this activity, it must be mentioned the contribution of Prof. Valda Rondelli, Head of the Laboratory since 2008, who has overseen coordinating the OECD Technical Working Group at an international level since 2003 and for the continuous updating of the OECD reference procedures.

Test reports submitted per OECD Testing Station in the 2022 year (OECD Standard Codes for the Official Testing of Agriculture and Forestry Tractors – 2023 OECD Coordinating Centre report)

These group of activities allow to gain a national and international recognition of the structure and obtain important scientific achievement on the same topics.

Lateral stability test of a narrow track tractor during the OECD Test Engineers Conference held in Bologna in 2013

On the same level of commitment is the activity that is carried out in the Laboratory, in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Transport and with other accredited bodies within the European Union, for the approval of agricultural tractors for road traffic purposes. In this context, the activities that most characterize the Laboratory's competences concern: sound pressure level and acoustic power level measurements; the evaluation of the efficiency of the braking devices and steering systems and more generally of the safety devices, including those for the protection of the operator from the risk of contamination by dangerous products such as plant protection products.

All the undertaken activities have not limited the performance in the other institutional fields such as teaching and research activities that the Professors of the same scientific sector carry out using the equipment and technical staff of the Laboratory.