16 December 2017, 09:00
With Smartphone App for fertiliser spreaders
As a means of further simplifying the checking of the lateral distribution pattern of fertiliser spreaders, AMAZONE introduced EasyCheck at Agritechnica 2015 for which it was awarded a silver medal. The EasyCheck system consists of a set of collecting mats and an App for evaluating the results. Again during the fertilising seasons of 2016 and 2017, comprehensive tests were carried out with the system in practice and from these tests it was found that the initial black mats were not suited to all fertilisers, especially with dark-coloured fertilisers. Therefore the colour of the mats was changed to purple which has proved suitable for both light and dark fertilisers.
When using EasyCheck in the field, firstly 16 lightweight rubber collecting mats are positioned in four rows and at specific distances from the tramline.
Then the relevant tramlines are spread and the mats with the collected fertiliser grains are photographed by Smartphone. The App now compares automatically how much fertiliser has been collected on the individual collecting mat rows and calculates the results of the individual rows in a ratio. On the basis of this evaluation, the spread pattern can be simply checked. In cases where it is not ideal, the App automatically suggests a correction to the spreading disc speed or of the delivery system on the ZA-TS or to the spreading vane position on the ZA-V or ZA-M.
With the new EasyCheck digital mobile test kit, available from spring 2018, the checking of the lateral distribution of the fertiliser can be quickly and easily checked directly in the field. A special advantage is the easy transportation of the collecting mats which take up very little space and can be transported in the spreader or on the tractor. All 16 mats, and in comparison to the previous test trays, can be carried at the same time by one person and thus can be quickly positioned in the field. Within about 5 minutes all the mats can be photographed and then, due to the simple laying out and collection of the test kit and the quick cleaning of the collecting mats, a considerable time advantage results compared with the standard mobile test kit that utilises hard plastic trays.
The EasyCheck App can be downloaded from their App store free of charge and be used on a suitable Smartphone that has the relevant camera quality.
Source: AMAZONEN-Werke H. Dreyer GmbH & Co. KG