Trelleborg reveals results of the tire footprint effect on farming efficiency
Held at Massey Ferguson’s bi-annual ‘Vision of the Future’ event in Beauvais, France (19th – 29th August), Trelleborg’s field demonstration saw two Massey Ferguson 7617 Dyna – 6 Efficient tractors compete over a 200 meter track simultaneously. With one tractor fitted with Trelleborg’s wide 710/60R38 TM1000 High Power tires and the other a standard 520/85R38 tire, digital chronometers measured the time taken for each tractor to complete the track, while two pipes were set up to show fuel consumption to allow calculation of efficiency savings.
Piero Mancinelli, R&D Director, Agricultural and Forestry Tires at Trelleborg said: “At Trelleborg, we hold a long-standing commitment to helping farming professionals produce more with less. As such we set out to showcase the potential of our latest solutions which have been specifically designed to boost productivity and efficiency for future farming operations, while also reducing operating costs and the overall environmental footprint.”
The results of the field demonstration are testament to the advanced design of the tire tread and the implementation of Trelleborg’s Blue Tire™ technology. The combination of the width of the tire and the high flexibility of the sidewall, guarantees a flat and large footprint at very low pressure. In addition, this combination enhances mud ejection, maximising the self-cleaning capability of the tire. As a result, the tire lugs work much more efficiently. The working lug surface is over 46% larger and ensures better traction and greater cost efficiencies. The entire footprint of the tire is wider than a standard 520/85R38 tire by up to 36%, providing a much more even and low pressure distribution on the soil as well as better flotation for higher crop productivity.
“As anticipated, the results show that using a tire with a wider footprint, farming professionals can save as much as €1,500 when farming an area of 200 hectares and up to €3,800 over 500 hectares. The ‘Vision of the Future’ event provided the ideal opportunity to conduct the field demonstration in a variety of soil moistures as a result of the differing weather conditions over the course of the two week event,” added Mancinelli.
The performance of both Trelleborg’s wide 710/60R38 TM1000 High Power tires and the standard 520/85R38 tires were tested in dry (15-18%), medium (18-25%) and wet (> 25%) soil moisture.
The cost efficiencies that can be obtained through the overall reduction of operating time and maintenance cost are as high as 17% in dry to medium soil conditions, 14% in medium conditions and 13% in wet soil moisture. Therefore fuel consumption can be reduced by over 16% in either dry to medium, medium or wet conditions. What’s more, utilising a tire with a wider footprint such as the 710/60R38 TM1000 High Power significantly reduces soil compaction drastically increasing both the quality and output of crop yields.
Watch the images on flickr.com/TrelleborgAgri about "Vision of the Future" Event