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University of Illinois researchers are developing an automatic
diagnostic system that will be able to "hear" that ping in the
engine telling you something is wrong. In addition, they are
gearing up to use their automatic guidance system to judge the
terrain for rollover prevention.
Sound too good to be true? Qin Zhang, an agricultural and
biological engineer at the U of I, is conducting research to
develop intelligent farm machinery, a concept he has dubbed "New
Iron."
"'Old Iron' is the mechanical system that farmers have used
for decades," said Zhang. "But agriculture today relies heavily
on computer technology. Computers on tractors make them more
productive, more efficient. Now we have a new challenge. Is it
possible to make them more intelligent?"
One way to boost a tractor's IQ is with what Zhang calls an
"intelligent health monitoring system."
"Ten years ago, a very experienced mechanic could listen to
your car to figure out the problem," said Zhang. "Today,
everyone uses computers to diagnose machinery. We teach the
computer to listen to the noise or to analyze major surface
parameters to see if the machine is healthy."
However, Zhang believes there is a lot of data buried
underneath this surface information. More advanced technology
can access this information and analyze it to allow farmers to
use the components of a machine as long as possible before
failure.
In research conducted with an industry partner, Zhang found
that the hydraulic pump on a tractor lasted over 12,000 hours
before failure. To repair the pump after failure cost more than
$14,000. When the part was replaced (on a schedule-based
maintenance program) at 7,000 hours, the cost was only $2,200.
"If the life is 12,000 hours and we replace it at 7,000
hours, we save a lot of money by avoiding expensive repairs, but
we lose almost 5,000 hours of life," said Zhang. "With this
technology, we will monitor the circuits better and use data
processing technology to dip into the deep information. If we
can find the point in the life of a component that is close to
failure, but not yet failed, we could reduce the cost of repair
even more."
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 Farm safety is another area of research that Zhang believes can
benefit from New Iron technology.
Today's tractors have a feature called ROPS, the roll over
protection structure, that works to protect the operator when the
tractor rolls over.
"But that is a passive system," said Zhang, "like an air bag in a
car. When you have an accident it protects you, but it cannot
eliminate the accident."
Zhang is beginning work on a new system, called AROPS, or active
roll over prevention system.
"An experienced operator can drive the tractor on sloped terrain
and know if the tractor can pass the slope safely," said Zhang. "But
what if the operator is older? He has the experience, but maybe his
reaction time is slow. What if he's young? He doesn't have the
experience; he just wants to drive fast."
AROPS uses automatic guidance to predict the relative slope
change to a tractor, then evaluate the situation and tell the driver
the appropriate action to take.
"It will say, OK, it's dangerous here; reduce your speed. Or it's
extremely dangerous; you cannot pass here," said Zhang.
Perhaps the best news about all this technology, said Zhang, is
the fact that it is "transparent" to the farmer.
"The farmer needs basic skills to operate the computer and the
programs, but he doesn't have to understand the technology. How many
of us understand how our cell phones work? We don't. We just use
them."
Some of Zhang's New Iron technology is available now, and some is
still in development. Although Zhang believes a completely
computer-integrated crop production system will be in place in 10
years, he said that "as fast as technology moves, if it happens
sooner, I won't be surprised."
Zhang's research is supported by the Great Lakes Center for
Agricultural Safety and Health, the National Fluid Power
Association, and Hatch Act funds.
[University
of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental
Sciences news release] |
