Multipurpose soil tillage with smart machinery – Electric-driven, sensor-controlled soil tillage

Abstract

Using electric-driven, sensor-controlled agriculutural machinery has high potential for smart and variable processes. The example shows how such a system could look like for a precise, site specific soil tillage operation. Instead of replacing drive trains in existing machinery, the whole machinery concept was designed to use the full potential of electric drives and embed-ded sensor technology for a sustainable agriculture. The developed technology will be part of an upcoming Start-Up at the University of Technology Dresden. Soil tillage is, beside of the harvest process, the most important step for plant production. Starting with the treatment of the residuals of the previous crops, continuing with seed bet preparation for the next crop and taking care of the crop with weed control, farmers need to use multiple machines for different tasks. During the last 20 years the development of chemi-cals, especially for weed control, made it easier for farmers to reduce their number of machines to a minimum. However, with the upcoming stricter regulation regarding the use of chemical treatments and the overall goal to reduce emissions like CO2 or nitrate, the world of soil tillage gets more and more complex. To support farmers with soil tillage machinery that meets their specific requirements new ap-proaches need to be considered. One solution was developed at the University of Technology Dresden. The, so-called Kronos system, an electric-driven, sensor-controlled tool system, con-sists of three modules: a PTO generator (Valkyrie), a soil tillage machinery (Rotapull Evo) and the soil sensor (Ackerscanner).