Senior Vanderbilt Engineering Student from Malaysia Adds Vital Dimension to Project

Sharifah Musliha Almatar  (right), Senior Vanderbilt Engineering student from Malaysia, explains the concept of the Traction Tillage System to two students during Design Day 2014 on April 21, 2014. 

(Photo by Joe Howell, Vanderbilt School of Engineering)

Sharifah Musliha Almatar is a senior Vanderbilt Engineering student who participated as part of a team that focused on the NuAg Agricultural Systems' Traction Tillage System during the 2013/14 academic year. The new agricultural system that does not necessarily involve a tractor was designed by Tommy Thompson to reduce soil compaction. In the process of reducing compaction, fuel consumption will be reduced because only the farm implements are moving and they create their own traction as they work against each other. This environmentally friendly system can be applied in plowing, planting, fertilizing, cultivation, and spraying operations. A 7-minute YouTube video showing a computer model of the system can be viewed at www.nuag.biz. 

The Vanderbilt Engineering team, which also included Peter Ingram, Ethan Gische A. Schurkman, and Zahar Din, performed an in-depth design of the truss structure of the Traction Tillage System. The team further designed the carriages that run along the trusses and hold each farm implement, the track system that supports the carriages, and the cable system that provides for movement of the carriages. 

The team also designed a large-force sensor that will be used to determine if there is an obstacle in the path of the implements so that appropriate action can be taken.