Trelleborg will display its latest innovation the VIP – Variable Inflation Pressure - system at Farm Progress Show 2017 in Decatur, Ill., Aug. 29 to 31.
The VIP system is a smart and autonomous complete wheel capable of self-adjusting the pressure of a combine harvester’s tire during operation according to its precise load, optimizing the tire’s footprint in order to reduce soil compaction.
Andrea Masella, Brand Manager for Trelleborg’s agricultural and forestry tires in North America, says: “The Trelleborg VIP system represents a major step forward and a great new advancement that producers will benefit from in North America.
“The VIP system is not only able to measure and/or change the tire pressure but also, being an intelligent system, of determining and adopting the right pressure at the right time and in the right place, without manual intervention. This is completely in-line with the precision farming philosophy.
“Self-adjusting tires to their optimal pressure during harvest, the VIP system saves the time required for pressure calculations, and to inflate and deflate tires; inflation and deflation takes place on the move avoiding downtime.”
Tests show that the VIP system achieves better flotation, resulting in lower soil compaction of up to 10.5 percent less and higher crop yield up to 5 percent more compared to a standard wheel. This is due to the fact that in a standard wheel the pressure within the tire is constant, so the footprint of the tire varies according to the load, limiting the effectiveness of the tire. As the Trelleborg VIP system changes tire pressure depending on the load, the footprint of the tire remains constant at its maximum dimension.