[January 2018]
A Kangaroo Island purpose built facility will provide direct access to farmland, harvest machinery and collection of crop materials, while combining science, engineering, feedback in a confidential space enabling us to create next generation technology.
"The indications so far are that the major cause of wear is any soil that reaches the mill. When harvesting crops with the front right on the ground or if the ground is undulating, soil can enter the harvester fronts. For high silica soil types wear rates are highest. Outer screens are the first component to wear (because of maximum material speed). The middle and inner screens last proportionally longer (reduced tip speeds) than outer screens. Rotor and flails are similar to middle screen life. We have learnt that there is another compromise that needs our focus; cutting height to capture weeds and wear rates because of soil entering the front." Nick Berry
First set of tests in January 2018 show that 15-20% power reduction is looking very achievable within our current design framework.