Trelleborg's ConnecTire Is a Smart Wheel for Farm Equipment

Oct. 25, 2017

Trelleborg Wheel Systems has created a smart wheel for farm machinery that monitors tire pressure and temperature and alerts the farmer when there are changes.

ConnecTire is sensor-based, and enables data sharing at multiple levels, which Trelleborg says reduces the risk of tire slippage on the rim and ultimately helps farmers with safety and efficiency. Operating machinery at the lowest safe pressure is a key challenge, the company says. Being in control maintains the safety both of machine and operator and ensures minimum impact on topsoil. During operations tire pressure can change due to a number of factors, including ambient and soil temperatures, as well as the intensity of task being performed and the configuration of the machine itself.

ConnecTire constantly monitors tire pressure and temperature, and relays both measures to both the tractor and farm mainframes via Bluetooth and wireless connectivity. Operators set their target tire pressure and can then monitor how tire pressure deviates from that target and act accordingly. Should corrective action be required, ConnecTire automatically sends an alert via its app to minimize disruption and maximize machine safety.

Piero Mancinelli, research and development director at Trelleborg says, “ConnecTire is about ensuring efficiency and sustainability; tires are required to work intelligently and to be at the right pressure at all times. Farm machinery is exposed to many variables throughout a working day, all of which can impact efficiency – ambient temperature, humidity and soil conditions. Being able to be in control of these allows farming operations to reduce inefficiencies. The alert via app capability is an essential feature of ConnecTire; changing conditions can require immediate action in order to maintain maximum efficiency and prevent rim slippage. ConnecTire’s communications functions enables fingertip control.”

ConnecTire also delivers further advantages:

  • An inbuilt GPS capability identifies the live position of the tractor helping to keep lone workers safe and even safeguarding the tires and machine against risk of theft.
  • With the help of precision farming software, farm managers are able to track the number of machine passes over every square inch of land, helping to limit soil compaction and erosion as much as possible.

Mancinelli says, “Repeatedly driving over the same ground at different stages of the crop cycle has a long term impact on yield. With ConnecTire, we saw an opportunity to help reduce this effect by providing the data that allows farms to identify at risk areas and mitigate this. Efficient use of land is essential and by reducing the number of machine passes, ConnecTire helps soil to rapidly recover fertility and yield potential.”

ConnecTire will be on display at Agritechnica 2017, Nov. 12 to 18 in Hannover, Germany.

For more information, go to  www.trelleborg.com/wheels.