Question:hard

A tractor PTO runs at a constant speed of 540 rpm to drive a rotary tiller through a flange coupling having a shear pin parallel to the shaft. The shear pin axis is located 60 mm from the PTO shaft axis. The allowable shear stress of the pin material is 200 MPa. For overload safety, the pin must fail at 150% of the rated torque to protect the gearbox. The tiller requires 40 kW under normal load at the rated PTO speed. Neglecting bending, stress concentration effects, and other losses, the pin diameter, in mm, is nearest to (take \(\pi = 3.14\))

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Work out the overload torque first, then convert it to a shear force on the pin.
Updated On: Aug 6, 2026
  • 7.5
  • 10.6
  • 6.1
  • 8.6
Show Solution

The Correct Option is B

Solution and Explanation

Step 1: Combine the steps into one formula for pin diameter.
Starting from torque $T = \dfrac{P}{\omega}$, overload torque $T_{fail} = 1.5T$, force $F = \dfrac{T_{fail}}{r}$, and shear stress $\tau = \dfrac{F}{\pi d^2/4}$, these combine into $d = \sqrt{\dfrac{4 \times 1.5 \times P}{\pi \, r \, \tau \, \omega}}$.

Step 2: Work out $\omega$ first, since it appears inside the formula.
$\omega = \dfrac{2\pi N}{60} = \dfrac{2 \times 3.14 \times 540}{60} = 56.52$ rad/s.

Step 3: Substitute every value in one pass.
$d = \sqrt{\dfrac{4 \times 1.5 \times 40000}{3.14 \times 0.06 \times (200\times10^6) \times 56.52}}$.
Numerator $= 240000$. Denominator $= 3.14 \times 0.06 \times 200000000 \times 56.52 = 2.130\times10^{9}$.
$d = \sqrt{\dfrac{240000}{2.130\times10^{9}}} = \sqrt{1.127\times10^{-4}} = 0.01062$ m.

Step 4: Convert and confirm.
$d \approx 10.6$ mm, the same figure the step by step build up gives.

Final Answer:
The pin diameter nearest to the computed value is 10.6 mm, so option B is correct. \[ \boxed{d \approx 10.6\ \text{mm}} \]
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