Power at Work: New ideas in abundance at the Agritechnica farm show
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Everything from tractors purpose-built to run on canola oil to a warning system for children coming near farm machinery were on view at the world's largest farm equipment show in Hanover
by NORMAN DUNN
The European Agritechnica farm equipment show, held in Hanover, Germany, bills itself as the world's largest. The November event is certainly one of the most innovative with 330 new launches from the record 2,200 exhibitors, including a six-wheel-drive 540 hp tractor, the first engines specifically designed for running on canola oil and an all-electric fertilizer spreader independent of pto power.
And, even if Canada is some 3,000 miles from the Agritechnica showground in Hanover, the country managed a mighty presence with a total of 47 firms at the world event. Here are some highlights.
An agile giant
The TRISIX Vario concept from Fendt in Germany marks a new direction in tractor design with 540 hp maximum power transmitted via stepless automatic transmission to six independently sprung, equal-sized wheels. Despite its 7.6 metre length, two steering axles on this 19-tonne giant ensure a comparatively tiny inside turning circle of just under seven metres. It's agile on the road, too, with a top speed of 50 km/h as standard or optional 65 km/h.
The engine is a 12-litre MAN common rail six-cylinder, 24-valve diesel. The rear steering axle is automatically locked at 30 km/h and over. "We're aiming to combine the best aspects of wheeled tractors (fuel efficiency, grip and steering on slopes) and crawlers (low ground pressure, tight turning) with TRISIX," explains Fendt.
The six wheels are clad in 650/65 R 38 tires. Hydraulic linkage is standard front and rear, as is 1,000/1,200 rpm pto. Although prototypes have been out on field test all this summer, the concept is still experimental, cautions AGCO daughter Fendt. No price has been mentioned so far.
Purpose-built for canola oil
Also launched were the first tractors with engines purpose-built to run on pure canola oil (or any other crop oil) with a full maker's warranty. Manufacturer Deutz calls its new products "Natural Fuel Engines" and offers a range with outputs from 80 to 330 hp powering Same Deutz-Fahr Agrotron tractors. AGCO daughter Fendt is also using the engines in its brand new 820 Vario "greentec" tractors.
The launch is causing massive interest in Europe, where mineral oil diesel now costs the equivalent of C$1.80 a litre, while vegetable oil fuel meeting the requirements for the Deutz engine warranty has no tax and sells for half this price. Until now, an expensive conversion was required to enable conventional diesel engines to run on raw vegetable oil fuel and the engines immediately lost any maker's guarantee.
The Deutz system features two tanks, one for conventional diesel and another for canola oil. The heart of the new four and six cylinder engines is an electronic fuel management system, which automatically starts the engine with conventional diesel and switches to pure vegetable oil when the right operating temperature is reached.
The system monitors the combustion process, ensuring low exhaust emissions at starting, for instance.
It also governs the tank heating system, which uses heat from the engine coolant to maintain a fuel temperature of 70C. Because pure vegetable oil fuel is used inefficiently by engines when not under load, the electronic control switches back to conventional diesel when the power requirement is under 25 per cent of maximum load for longer than 30 seconds. The engines cost "about 10 per cent more" than the similar models for conventional diesel, according to Deutz.
All-electric spreader power
Another tractor maker and another world first at Agritechnica came with the launch of the John Deere E-Premium 7430 and 7530 tractors (maximum power 200 hp and 211 hp), complete with a crankshaft-driven generator feeding an ancillary network with up to 20 kW. This extra current is claimed to save up to five per cent on fuel by powering normally engine-driven services such as the air conditioning fans or the air compressor.
Current also flows to two 230-and 400-volt sockets for powering attached implements or tools. The conventional on-board 12-volt network is also supplied from the new system and thereby gains 50 per cent in capacity.
Smoother and quieter spreading
Fitting right in with Deere's auxiliary electrical power system is the Axis EDR (Electric Drive) twin-disc fertilizer spreader from German manufacturer Rauch. There's no more pto drive, and simply plugging into Deere's 400-volt 3-phase system provides up to 20 kW for efficient driving of discs and agitators.
Each disc has its own electric motor, which means that individual spreading patterns can be altered continuously. The two agitators share another electric motor, while actuators powered by the tractor 12-volt network control the electronic speed-regulated dosing system.
Among the advantages: disc stop at headlands is immediate and field spreading is a smoother and quieter operation, says the manufacturer.
The Axis spreader electrical model comes on the market next year in the 3.0 version first with a 1.200-litres hopper and maximum spreading width of 42 metres.
Fixed and variable chamber combi-baler
Krone's so-called semi-variable Comprima F 155 is one of a range of new round balers replacing the chain and slat wrapping system with "Novagrip" webbing, slats for quieter operation and up to 20 per cent denser bales, according to Krone.
The Comprima bales up to 1.25 metres in diameter in the "fixed" pre-packing chamber mode, whereby the webbing and slats run on guide wheels. For larger diameter bales, the slats are forced off the guide wheels with a spring-loaded tensioning bar controlling the expansion up to a maximum 1.5 metres in diameter with manual adjustment for size in stages of five centimetres. The Comprima models are available with 17- or 26-knife choppers and optional integral silage wrapper.
A fuel-saving harvester
Also new from Krone is the BigX 800 self-propelled forage harvester, rated at 836 hp and mainly aimed at Canadian and U.S. farmers and contractors. Like former models, this features two engines. But, this time, the power output (Mercedes Benz 510 hp and 326 hp) can be fully synchronized through a multi-plate clutch. There's still the option of saving fuel by running just one motor - for instance, the larger one alone is recommended for roadwork and grass silage harvesting.
The harvester comes with a 20-, 28- or 40- knife chopping system and with the option of Krone's largest-ever maize cutterbar with a 12-row, nine-metre-wide bite foldable to three metres for roadwork at a maximum 40 km/h. Even with the giant cutterbar, the Big X, at 12.3 tonnes net, is still lighter than the previous model was with just a 10-row cutter bar - a saving that is claimed to reduce fuel consumption at full power by litres per hectare.
Build your own sprayer
A new idea from Amazone features a 2,800- litre crop sprayer built around a 160-200 hp tractor. An innovative "Flow-Control" system helps stability by balancing liquid contents in the two tanks. This is computer controlled (Amatron +) and first of all reduces the volume of liquid in the 1,800-litre rear tank during spraying, while keeping the front tank full as ballast. When the tractor balance reaches a predetermined critical point, the computer changes to spray circulation mode with spraying continuing and equal amounts used from both tanks.
The circulation/spray pump has a capacity of 280 litres a minute.
A smaller version of this concept is also offered with a total 2,200 litres fore and aft built around a 120-160 hp tractor.
Avoiding kid casualties on the farm
Every year brings its tragic toll of children seriously injured or killed in accidents with manoeuvring farm machinery. So immense attention is being attracted by a new safety concept with immediate alert when children come near a moving vehicle.
The "Childfinder," launched by farm electronic specialist Satconsystems, features a radio frequency identification system (RFID) with portable receiver fitted to farm vehicles and other machinery. Children on the farm - or indeed any persons moving about in the vicinity of working machinery - are equipped with a coded RFID-chip. An operator alarm sounds immediately when persons wearing the chip come near.
No-bolt plowshares increase working life
The DuraMaxx plowshares from Lemken are claimed to be the first plow parts produced with no hole boring, stamping or welding. The advantage: complete lack of invasive work like this means that 30 to 40 per cent harder metal can be used for all wearing parts. According to Lemken trials this year, this lengthens working lifetime by at least 50 per cent.
Plowshare slats or whole mouldboards are simply hooked onto the plow body and secured with a spring clip through a pin that's actually glued onto the back of the share through a new induction-glue process. The wearing parts are thus no longer constructional parts of the plow and can therefore be safely worn down to the last millimetres.
Bale netting: 40 per cent longer but lighter and stronger
VLV, the company that already claims over 50 per cent of the bale-netting market worldwide, is launching a revolutionary product for next harvest. New plastic technology developed over the last three years in Israel means that the new 4,200-metre "Bale+" (40 per cent longer than the standard 3,000-metre products) is not only lighter per square metre but also tougher, with a breaking strain averaging 290 kilograms, and broader with edge-to-edge guarantee even with bales two metres wide and more.
Each 4.2-kilometre netting roll weighs only 42 kilograms. Other advantages: highly visible red stripes indicating the last 70 metres of the roll, less cost on a metre for metre basis and an ecological advantage through saving 500 kgs of plastic per 10,000 bales compared with current netting products. The new netting will also be available in 2,800-metre length. BF
Norman Dunn writes about European agriculture from Germany