Trelleborg Wheel Systems was awarded a gold medal at the 2017 SIMA Innovation Awards for its soon-to-launch Variable Inflation Pressure (VIP) system.
“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,” said Paolo Pompei, president of Trelleborg Agricultural and Forestry Tires.
Developed in partnership with tractor manufacturer Agco Fendt, the VIP 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. The VIP system, which is directly integrated on the tire rim, 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, Trelleborg said.
“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,” said Piero Mancinelli, R&D Director of Agricultural and Forestry Tires at Trelleborg Wheel Systems. “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 VIP 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 SIMA Innovation Awards, which were launched in 1931, honor the agricultural industry’s most innovative equipment, products, techniques and services.
