Trelleborg System Automatically Varies Air Pressure on Combine Tires

Trelleborg showcased its latest technological advance today at the National Farm Machinery Show. Known more for its tires, the firm revealed the Variable Inflation Pressure (VIP) system, which adjusts pressure of combine tires to optimize tire footprint and reduce soil compaction.

One of the advantages of this smart technology is that it saves farmers the time required for pressure calculations and then inflating and deflating tires to road and field conditions.

Field tests have demonstrated that the VIP system achieves better flotation, resulting in lower soil compaction of up to 10.5%, compared with a standard wheel. This is due to the fact that the pressure in a standard tire is constant. So the footprint of such tires varies according to the load.

With the VIP system tire pressure varies by the load on the combine, so the footprint of the tire remains constant at its maximum dimension.

The VIP system consists of a set of sensors measuring load, pressure, and temperature along with an electronic central processor that operates a compressor to adjust the pressure. The unit automatically senses whether the machine is in the field or on the road and modifies pressure accordingly, inflating on the road or deflating in the field.

The system also detects when, on the same axle, the load on the right tire is different from the load on the left tire. This provides an advantage on slopes, where the VIP can set two different pressures according to data received.

"The VIP system is not only able to measure or change the tire pressure but also, being an intelligent system, determine and adopt the right pressure at the right time and in the right place, without manual intervention," says Andrea Maselia of Trelleborg.