On Thursday, November 24, Trelleborg was awarded a gold medal at the 2017 SIMA Innovation Awards for its soon-to-launch Variable Inflation Pressure - VIPTM - system. Developed in partnership with leading tractor manufacturer AGCO FENDT, the VIPTM system is a smart and autonomous complete wheel capable of self-adjusting the pressure of a combine harvester’s tire according to its precise load during operation, optimizing the tire’s footprint in order to reduce soil compaction.
Held at SIMA’s pre exhibition press conference in Paris, the internationally-renowned SIMA Innovation Awards, which were launched in 1931, honor the agricultural industry’s most innovative equipment, products, techniques and services.
Paolo Pompei, President Trelleborg Agricultural and Forestry Tires, who received the coveted award, commented at the ceremony: “To receive the ‘SIMA Innovation Award’ Gold Medal is a tremendous honor for us. It gives us great pride that the agricultural industry recognizes Trelleborg’s long-standing commitment to developing innovative solutions.”
Piero Mancinelli, R&D Director, Agricultural and Forestry Tires at Trelleborg Wheel Systems commented: “Precision Farming technologies are, today, in use across over 5% of cultivated land which is projected to reach 20% within the next decade. As a result, driverless machines and robots connected with the Internet of Things (IoT) are fast becoming a reality in modern agriculture, helping farmers to produce more, with less.
“At Trelleborg, we have looked to establish the role of the agricultural tire in the precision farming and the IoT framework, and have invested significant time and resource to further enhance the potential of these innovative technologies. The VIPTM system does exactly that. It is a smart, intelligent, self-adjustable variable inflation pressure system capable to determine and adopt the right pressure at the right time, in the right place. Just as precision farming philosophy suggests.”
The VIPTM system consists of a set of sensors measuring several parameters including load, pressure, temperature along with an electronic central processor controlling a compressor and a valve to adjust the pressure. The VIPTM system is directly integrated on the tire rim.
“By determining and adopting the right tire pressure without manual intervention, farmers can reduce soil compaction over 10 percent, resulting in a five percent higher crop yield. This can be achieved while allowing full connectivity with the farm network, mainframe as well as VIP App interface and machine fleet. We are continuing to test the VIPTM system in the field for several crops in the most demanding applications prior its official concept launch at the 2017 SIMA Exhibition in Paris from February 26 to March 2, 2017,” concludes Mancinelli.
Source : Trelleborg