Join us in the workshop for Shop Talk. Brett Asphar walks us through measuring Screen, Rotor, and Flail wear on the Seed Terminator. He shows us how to measure wear and what and where to look for it.

Wear of AeroIMPACT 3 

Screens range from 500 hours up to 1700 hours in really low wearing scenarios. 

Rotors & Flails: from 1000 hours up to 3000 hours in really low wearing scenarios. 

High Performance Screens like Bean Screen will wear quicker.

Wear of AeroIMPACT 4 

Screens, Rotors & Flails for the Pro Series will wear together as the screens have been increased to a 10mm thick Australian steel Bisalloy 500, we are still gathering data on this with four harvests under our belt with this technology. 

For the retrofit AeroIMPACT 4 on to Origin Series, the wear will be higher due to the higher throughput of material per hour. 

Factors Influencing Wear

1. Soil Type: Soil type significantly impacts wear, particularly when soil enters the machine. Harvesting low to the ground, which is effective for capturing more weed seeds, inevitably introduces more soil into the mills, accelerating wear. Some of the highest wearing environments are sandy soils with a high silica content, this is essentially sandblasting the components. 
2. Harvester Front Technology: The design of the harvester front plays a crucial role. A rigid front cutting low might collect more sand and other abrasive materials, leading to increased wear. Flexible fronts or stripper fronts, however, have shown to greatly enhance mill longevity by reducing the intake of abrasive materials.
3. Harvest Speed: Faster harvesting speeds can cause the front of the harvester to bounce, leading to sand and soil being scooped up and thrown into the machinery. This can increase wear, especially when combined with certain types of cleaning fans which may exacerbate the issue.
4. Crop Type: Different crops affect wear differently. For example, legumes tend to be harder on wear parts, while canola might help protect against wear. The need to harvest low to effectively capture weed seeds, which may be herbicide-resistant, necessitates adjustments in machinery use and settings to manage the increased wear.
5. Processing Volunteer Grains off the sieves. The final factor influencing wear is one we'd prefer to keep in the grain tank! We've found if there was accelerated wear and its not due to sand intake the other culprit is processing grain off the sieves. 

Managing Wear

• View wear and maintenance not just as a repair cost but as a necessary investment akin to purchasing chemicals for weed control. By understanding and adapting to the factors that influence wear, operations can be optimised to balance effectiveness in weed seed destruction with cost and equipment longevity.

Highest wearing regions in Australia 

• Rainbow, Victoria due to sandy soils
• Pinnaroo, South Australia due to sandy soils and big lentil programs
• Balranald, New South Wales due to sandy soils

Aerodynamics and their role in no-load power

Aerodynamic rotor bars for lowest no-load power means more energy goes into killing seeds and less wasted energy making hot air.  

As you can see from the images here, there is a turbulent wake behind the truck, creating hot air which is wasted energy. These aerodynamics (along with rolling friction) is largely why a truck uses more fuel/km than a sports car. 

At Seed Terminator we spend a lot of energy manufacturing the profiles of our components and making them aerodynamic.

At 300km an hour the reduction in turbulence is compounded, allowing us to minimise the no load power.  

Independent Testing Research 

1. ‘Optimisation of Seed Terminator settings in the South Australian Context’, 2019, Trengove Consulting, funded by South Australian Grains Industry Trust 
2. ‘Harvest weed-seed control continues to evolve’, 2017, Michael Walsh et al Western Australia.
   
3. ‘Benchmarking Harvest Weed Seed Mills’ 2022, South Australian Grains Industry Trust funded Trengove Consulting, South Australia
4. The University of Hohenheim in Germany
5. The University of Missouri
   

Every year we are testing new mill technology, we have partners that we work with on an annual basis: The University of Adelaide Weed Science Research Group, Plant Science Consulting & Trengove Consulting. 

^ South Australian Grains Industry Trust funded research into Weed seed control at normal operating speeds & settings.  ​Stationary efficacy testing for Model Year 2017. 

Generally we'd say 80-100hp is needed to run a mill.

​Power and wear is the enemy, or is it?

If you are not using power or wearing material you are not killing weed seeds.

You can expect approximately 0.5 L/tonne more fuel in wheat. The theory says that the minimum fuel to kill 98% of weed seeds is 0.3L/tonne

• This doesn’t account for no load power
• Also doesn’t account for any chaff seed cushioning

Processing Power

How many seeds do you want to kill? The Energy to Kill weed seeds (ryegrass) from Nicks thesis, the energy to kill ryegrass seeds, damaging (vs reduced seedling emergence or kill)  follows this curve. its not a step curve, as not all the seeds are the same. Below minimum energy there is no seed kill or damage.

“You can’t expect it to turn stuff into flour for no power draw cost”- Simon Reynolds, WA

Factors Influencing Wear

1. Soil Type: Soil type significantly impacts wear, particularly when soil enters the machine. Harvesting low to the ground, which is effective for capturing more weed seeds, inevitably introduces more soil into the mills, accelerating wear. Some of the highest wearing environments are sandy soils with a high silica content, this is essentially sandblasting the components. 
2. Harvester Front Technology: The design of the harvester front plays a crucial role. A rigid front cutting low might collect more sand and other abrasive materials, leading to increased wear. Flexible fronts, however, have shown to greatly enhance mill longevity by reducing the intake of abrasive materials.
3. Harvest Speed: Faster harvesting speeds can cause the front of the harvester to bounce, leading to sand and soil being scooped up and thrown into the machinery. This can increase wear, especially when combined with certain types of cleaning fans which may exacerbate the issue.
4. Crop Type: Different crops affect wear differently. For example, legumes tend to be harder on wear parts, while canola might help protect against wear. The need to harvest low to effectively capture weed seeds, which may be herbicide-resistant, necessitates adjustments in machinery use and settings to manage the increased wear.

Managing Wear

• View wear and maintenance not just as a repair cost but as a necessary investment akin to purchasing chemicals for weed control. By understanding and adapting to the factors that influence wear, operations can be optimised to balance effectiveness in weed seed destruction with cost and equipment longevity.