Ausgabe zur AGRITECHNICA 2019

31 Ausg.Nr._20/2019 innovations for the aforementioned Magnum 400 to offer a 21/5 full powershift gearbox with which the vehicle can be driven at both 40 and 50 km/hr at a reduced engine speed. With the “Valtra Powershift Revo- lution”, meanwhile, the Agco Group company is now offering the joystick operating logic famil- iar from the stepless Direct gear- box for the Versu partial power- shift gearbox. Stepless gearboxes with hydro- static/mechanical power split have now been in use for more than 20 years in agriculture. So far, an additional generator had to be fitted for electric drives with higher power requirements on the tractor, trailer and implement. John Deere is now taking a new approach with the eAutoPower gearbox for the new 8R large trac- tors by completely forgoing the hydraulic unit (pump/motor) and instead implementing two electric motors. These not only take over the function of the variable ac- tuator in the power split gearbox structure, but additionally provide electrical power of up to 100kW for external consumption. This can be used, for instance, to drive electric driving axles of large trail- ers or semi-mounted ploughs, thus leading to increased traction and reduced slip. Thanks to this tractor/implement electrification, large liquid manure tankers with slurry injection equipment can be operated with smaller tractors, for instance, which can lead to high- er payloads in the event of gross weight limitations on the road. On the tractor side, this electrome- chanical power split should result in improved gearbox efficiencies and lower running costs. When taking off electrical power for electric drives outside of the gear- box, the reactive power flows that occur at certain operating points in power split structures can addi- tionally be “tapped”, thus further improving the overall efficiency. Fully electric concepts with batter- ies are still being taken into con- sideration for smaller tractors. At Agritechnica, the Swiss company Rigitrac will be exhibiting a fur- ther developed version of the SKE 50 Electric prototype with 50kW, which was presented for the first time at the end of 2018. The lith- ium-ion battery has a capacity of 80kWh and is mounted between the axles beneath the cab. Up to five electric motors can be sup- plied by the 400V electrical sys- tem: one each for the front and rear axles as well as for the rear and front power take-off, and one to drive the hydraulics pump. Track drives continue to gain ground on larger tractors For high traction and low soil pressures, large standard tractors are increasingly being equipped with semi-track drives. Special- ised manufacturers have been offering retrofit solutions for front and rear axles for some time now. Factory-fitted semi-track drives for the rear axles of their own large tractors have also been presented by CNH and Claas in recent years. The front axles of wheeled tractors are not usually designed for such drives, which is why problems may arise if they are retrofitted. For its Magnum model series, Case IH is offering new steering assistance through automatic brake pulses at the rear wheels for both the semi-caterpillar and the wheeled models. Improved comfort when working with large balers No less than two manufacturers, John Deere and New Holland, are presenting systems to reduce the shocks caused by large balers in tractor cabs. These are very un- pleasant for the driver and can lead to health problems. For its own large baling machines in combination with 7R model se- ries tractors, John Deere is offer- ing intelligent vibration damp- ing in which piston shocks are compensated by briefly chang- ing the speed in the stepless gearbox. Various sensor signals are taken into consideration for this; no additional hardware is required. New Holland is taking a slightly different approach and is equipping its T7 tractor model series with a baling mode that also functions with large baling machines from other manufac- turers. Here, the piston shocks are intercepted thanks to a mod- ified front axle suspension set- up and a steeper engine cut-off curve setting. Digitisation in practice Digitisation has definitively ar- rived in tractors. Several manu- facturers are presenting teleme- try systems, albeit with different focuses. With Valtra Connect, this involves efficient fleet man- agement, TIM remote diagnosis from Kubota is focused on the simplified, brand-independent fault analysis of tractor/imple- ment combinations and TracLink Smart from Lindner is concerned with automatic implement rec- ognition using SmartTags and web-based setting recommen- dations. With FendtONE, Fendt is present- ing a new operating philosophy that is intended to eliminate the boundaries between the on- board world on the tractor and the off-board world in the office. The completely redesigned cab, which will initially be available for the 700 series and the top 300 series model, the 314, will be equipped with a total of four monitors for which the contents of the display areas can be freely selected. For example, the satel- lite guidance display can be shown on the electronic dash- board equally as well as on the ceiling monitor, which can be pushed partially or completely into the ceiling. In addition, in- dividual tractor functions can be assigned to almost all of the buttons in the new control arm- rest; a dynamic colour concept quickly indicates the current al- location.  Text & Image: DLG Service GmbH Eschborner Landstraße 122 D-60489 Frankfurt am Main