Agritechnica: Three silver medals for Amazone

Amazone has been rewarded once again for its important innovations. So, ahead of the world’s most important and biggest agriculture machinery trade fair, the Innovations Commission has awarded Amazonen-Werke three silver medals.

The first medal was given for EasyCheck, the digital, mobile test kit for determining the lateral distribution of centrifugal fertiliser spreaders; the Innovations Commission recognised the significant increase in the efficiency of the process as well as the organisational benefits from this simplification in checking the lateral distribution of fertiliser spreaders. Instead of the normal collecting trays found in the classic, 16 tray mobile test kit, EasyCheck needs only lightweight rubber mats and a newly developed Smartphone APP to check and to optimise the lateral distribution and the adjustment of the spreader. Thanks to EasyCheck in future this requires about only one quarter of the time needed to carry out a test and so will result in a higher acceptance of the technique and thus lead to more customers making those checks.

The second medal is awarded to AmaSpot, the sensor controlled individual nozzle switching with low drift injector nozzle technology. AmaSpot is an innovation which Amazone has developed in co-operation with the companies Rometron and Agrotop. The decisive innovations here include the GreenSense infrared sensor fitted to the sprayer boom which allow the scanning of the entire field surface and which differentiate between green plants and bare ground. In addition, the system features new pulse width modulation nozzles which open and close in a split second and thus allow the on and off switching to the exact centimetre even at high forward speeds of up to 20 km/h. This teamwork of sensors and nozzles initially enables the precise application of herbicides just to targeted areas – right down to the individual plant: The sensor detects the green plant and the nozzle applies the herbicide exactly at this position. In this way AmaSpot does away with full area total herbicide application and only treats part areas where in fact weeds or volunteer grains are growing. When using glyphosate agents, between 20% and 80%, depending on drilling techniques, can be saved in comparison with full area treatments.

With the third medal for Amazone, the Innovations Commission has recognised the benefits of GPS-Switch with AutoPoint in connection with pneumatic seed drills. On the headland, this innovation very precisely switches on and off the metering system of seed drills automatically. Up until now, when utilising GPS-Switch on pneumatic seed drills, calculating the different delay times between the switching on and off of the metering units and the seed flow at the coulter was a problem. The new AutoPoint system, with the aid of a sensor at the coulter, is able to determine the actual seed flow and thus the exact delay time and the exact switching points to ensure the optimum start and stop of the metering cassette on the headland. Thus, overlaps and seed gaps are safely prevented and the efficiency of the seed drill is further increased. In addition, GPS-Switch with AutoPoint includes a driver's assistance system which, via a preview bar, displays on the ISOBUS terminal the position at which the system will switch. So, the driver can preselect the correct speed and maintain it during the complete headland turn around.