Gold medals for innovation at the Agritechnica Innovation Awards 2017 have been awarded to Claas for its Cemos Auto Threshing system and to Kemper for its StalkBuster, developed jointly with John Deere. A further 29 silver medals were awarded to a host of different entries from smart technology to practical engineering.
Cemos Auto Threshing is the first system that sets the tangential threshing system on straw walker and hybrid machines automatically. Depending on the strategy entered into the system by the operator, it sets the drum speed and the concave gap for optimum results in the current harvest conditions.
The USP of the entire system is the fact that all controllers communicate with each other. For example, the throughput controller operates via a special communication module to control the throughput relative to the threshing controller, as well as the separation and cleaning controllers.
Another module in the system is Auto Threshing, which for the first time completes the enormous complex technical step to implement fully automated threshing. On such a harvester, users no longer need to know which settings they have to select to get the desired results. Instead, they enter the harvesting strategy, which is then used by the auto-learning system to optimize all parameters.
Kemper and John Deere developed the StalkBuster which is the first stubble-destroying technology that forms an integral part of a maize header. It is the only machine on the market that destroys all the stubble before it is driven on by the forager or the tractor and trailer.
Usually about 30% of the stubble remains intact, and as the corn borer winters inside it, a high percentage of undestroyed stubble offers them a haven so they can infest the area again the following year.
The new topper is integrated in the header, is relatively lightweight and has a relatively low power input requirement. This means no extra limitations apply for legal road transport.
The Kemper StalkBuster is a technical solution that offers great benefits for users, their productivity and the environment.
Silver medal winners
Fliegl Büffel overloading station for haulm crops;
Claas Axion 900 TerraTrac semi-tracked and fully suspended tractor;
EZ Ballast Wheels John Deere;
Claas Cemos for tractors operator assist system optimizing tractor/implement set-up;
VarioPull from AGCO Fendt;
e100 Vario from AGCO Fendt;
MARS – Mobile Agricultural Robot Swarms, from AGCO Fendt;
Camera-supported seedbed preparation from Pottinger and New Holland;
GPS-based and automated body-lift-out feature which optimizes ploughing results from Kuhn;
LevelTuner from Landmaschinen Wienhoff;
Swing Stop pro, from Amazon and Rometron BV;
ESV Electric Shut-off Valve, from Lechler GmbH;
Stereoscopic row-crop Culti Cam camera on mechanical hoes;
Tractor integrated implement steering with Infield auto system for high-capacity hoes from John Deere and Monosem;
MultiCoater CM 300 from Petkus Technologie;
The first pro-active and automatic combine setting system from New Holland;
IDEAL combine from AGCO;
SmartTurn; Holmer
Ventor 4150 self-propelled four-row potato harvester with world-leading lifting system that doubles capacity, from Grimme;
Sensosafe from Pottinger;
LiftCab from Bernard Krone;
Flexwave Grain Silo Unloading System;
SmaArt Camera System for automated blossom thinning with Darwin Fruit-Tec Adolf Betz;
Beacon+GPS+Sigfox Fliegl COUNTER SX / Pöttinger PÖTPRO Guide;
Farmdok automation of agricultural recordings with smartphones;
Agrirouter; DKE-Data GmbH & Co. KG
SmartService 4.0; Amazonen-Werke
Telematics Large Vehicle Alert System, which warns car drivers of agricultural machines in road traffic, from Claas; and
Smart Crop Damage Identification intelligent identification system for crop damage caused by game, from Agrocom.
By Chris McCullough
September 15, 2017
