The title of "Machine of the Year 2014" was awarded to CLAAS at the Agritechnica 2013 trade fair for its CEMOS AUTOMATIC driver assistance system.
The "Machine of the Year" award is presented every two years by the technology editors from the Deutscher Landwirtschaftsverlag (dlv) publishing house for the best innovations in agricultural technology. The prize in the electronics category was this year awarded to CLAAS for CEMOS AUTOMATIC in combination with its three new driver assistance systems:
- Automatic throw direction adjustment for straw distribution
- Automatic tire pressure control system for the rear tires
- GRAIN QUALITY CAMERA.
CEMOS AUTOMATIC is the world's first fully automatic combine harvester configuration system for separation and cleaning functions and has been in use in the LEXION 700 model series since the 2013 harvest season. It uses numerous sensors to monitor a wide variety of combine harvester parameters with split-second accuracy and immediately adjusts the machine settings to the current conditions - fully automatically. Here a distinction is made between two working systems: CEMOS AUTO SEPARATION optimizes residual grain separation by adjusting the parameters for rotor speed and rotor cover plate position. CEMOS AUTO CLEANING regulates the cleaning process via the parameters for fan speed as well as upper sieve and lower sieve opening.
At the Agritechnica trade fair, CLAAS introduced three new systems in its driver assistance technology range for combine harvesters.
Automatic throw direction adjustment
Automatic throw direction adjustment is available for all LEXION models with a radial spreader. It automatically adjusts the throw direction on the radial spreader to side wind and slope incline. Two electromechanical sensors fitted on the lighting arms at the rear of the combine harvester continuously measure the side wind and slope incline. After calculation, the measurement values are passed to the control system that controls the side adjustment of the paddles on the radial spreader, so that straw is always distributed evenly across the whole working width of the cutter bar.
Automatic tire pressure control system
The new automatic tire pressure control system is optionally available for all five models in the 700 model series. It reduces the ground pressure loading produced by the rear axle to the low level of a front axle with TERRA TRAC drives. The basic settings for the tire pressure control system are made from the cab via the CEBIS terminal. When the road travel switch is selected, the tire pressure is automatically adjusted to the value which was previously set for road travel. After arriving back on the field, the tire pressure is automatically reduced back to the field pressure that was previously set.
GRAIN QUALITY CAMERA
Using the third innovation, the GRAIN QUALITY CAMERA, which also won the DLG Silver Medal during Agritechnica 2013, the driver can now assess the quality of the threshed product in real time and continuously, and immediately draw conclusions for a change in the settings of his combine harvester. Previously, the threshed product was assessed merely visually by looking through the grain tank window but that is now possible via the CEBIS terminal. The technology involved is a high-definition color photo camera which is mounted on the head of the combine harvester's grain elevator, from where it takes high-precision pictures of the crop in the elevator every second. These pictures are passed to internal picture evaluation software which uses them to calculate the non-grain components, such as straw, chaff and spikes as well as the proportion of broken grains. These values are sent to the CEBIS display where they are either shown as bar diagrams or as real images, with areas of low grain quality marked in color. The driver receives an active visual alert if limit values have been exceeded. CLAAS will initially introduce the GRAIN QUALITY CAMERA on the LEXION 780 and 770 model series.
