Spotlight on NEW HOLLAND Agriculture innovation

New Holland Agriculture has won the gold and silver medals at the SIMA Innovation Awards 2009 for its impressive NH2 hydrogen tractor and its EasyDrive™ transmission, respectively.
The brand also received a Special Mention for its intelligent user interface. These awards highlight the breadth of the technological innovations that New Holland is developing for the benefit of its customers.

Farmer energy independence: New Holland leads the way with the NH2™ tractor
The New Holland concept of on-farm energy independence is based on farmers being able to generate, store and use energy on the farm.

At the heart of the concept is the production of electricity from natural, environmentally friendly sources and the storage of this energy in the form of compressed hydrogen. New Holland is thus developing a product that provides long-term benefits for its customers.

The NH2™ hydrogen tractor, gold medal in the SIMA 2009 innovation awards, marks the start of a new approach to independence.

The concept of on-farm energy independence
Fuel prices currently account for a significant share of farm operating costs. Unfortunately, these costs will continue to rise.

New Holland believes that hydrogen technology will give farmers independence in their energy supply, which could be used across a wide variety of vehicles and applications. New Holland customers would thus benefit from greater security in managing their business.

It should be noted that hydrogen-based energy technologies receive very strong international support, with the European Commissioner for Research stating that ?the ultimate goal of this technology platform will be the deployment of a competitive European energy system?.

With its hydrogen tractor, New Holland is looking to the future.

The unprecedented benefits of using hydrogen
The choice of hydrogen was a natural one, as it is a component of water and is therefore abundant in nature. The only problem: hydrogen is always combined with other atoms - oxygen in the case of water - forming molecules.

So what are the ways to produce pure hydrogen? One of the simplest is the electrolysis of water. An anode and a cathode immersed in water and supplied with electricity split the water: hydrogen on one side, oxygen on the other.

The hydrogen is then compressed for storage. Water and electricity are therefore the two essential components. This principle thus makes it possible to use electricity produced on the farm as an energy source.

Many electricity production systems are currently used on farms around the world, harnessing the power of wind, sun and biomass.

However, electrical energy that is not used at the time it is produced must be sold back to national grids or lost.

The on-farm energy independence concept extends the process by allowing energy to be stored as compressed hydrogen; this energy could then be used directly on farm machinery or on generators supplying electrical power and heat to buildings and many other applications when needed.

Battery-powered electric vehicles are efficient in stop/start cycles but require a very long recharging time for a limited range.

Hydrogen vehicles solve these difficulties by using a hydrogen tank to supply on-board fuel cells that generate electricity, which provides better efficiency and greater flexibility. Hydrogen fuel cells have a long service life and avoid the pollution problems associated with used batteries.

Energy from pure hydrogen can be stored in a tank as compressed gas and the vehicle can be refuelled quickly. The relatively short distances between the workplace and the home base would allow vehicles to easily access a central hydrogen tank installed on the farm or fixed or mobile satellite tanks.

The NH2™ hydrogen tractor
The NH2™ hydrogen tractor is the major practical demonstration of the New Holland concept of on-farm energy independence.

As the world's first tractor to use hydrogen as fuel, the concept fits naturally into the brand's Clean Energy Leader (Clean Leader) approach, which has dominated the market by approving 100% Biodiesel fuel without requiring complex maintenance programmes and without loss of performance.

Based on the very popular T6000, the experimental NH2™ tractor has had its traditional internal combustion engine replaced by hydrogen fuel cells producing electrical energy. Compressed hydrogen, coming from a tank installed on the tractor, reacts in the fuel cell with oxygen from the ambient air to produce water and electrons. The electrons generate an electric current that powers electric motors which drive the tractor's transmission and auxiliary systems.

Beyond the concept, the interest of the project for the brand's customers is that the NH2™ tractor exists and works!

Much more than a simple idea, the NH² tractor is a working prototype of 106 ch capable of performing all the work required of a T6000, while operating in near-total silence and emitting only water.

The hydrogen fuel cell produces a steady supply of energy without generating polluting nitrogen oxide, soot particles or carbon dioxide. The tractor's clean operation provides additional health benefits when working in confined spaces such as barns or greenhouses.

The New Holland concept of on-farm energy independence offers farmers a positive vision of their future, enabling them to manage their operating costs while meeting the ever-increasing need for productivity and efficiency, all while protecting the environment.

EasyDrive™: the flexible and compact continuously variable transmission!
New Holland's innovative continuously variable transmission, EasyDrive™, will offer a new possibility of continuous working and better use of engine power for smaller tractors.

It is these two criteria that earned it the silver medal in the innovation awards at SIMA 2009.

As with the gold-medal NH2™ hydrogen tractor, the new EasyDrive™ transmission illustrates New Holland's capacity for innovation in finding the best solutions for its customers.

Efficient power
The new EasyDrive™ transmission provides quieter operation, better torque transmission and therefore optimised fuel consumption.

EasyDrive™ will be introduced on the Boomer 3000 tractor range, then will become available on a wider range of New Holland tractors, from 40 ch to 115 ch, thus offering the productivity and ease of use of more powerful tractors to lower power ranges.

The challenge for New Holland's engineers was to find a transmission that performs better than a traditional hydrostatic transmission or a mechanical gearbox. The heart of the transmission is a chain variator made up of a steel chain running on two pulleys of variable diameters.

Each pulley consists of a movable disc and a fixed disc, with inclined surfaces. The discs can be moved closer together or further apart to vary their effective diameter and thus obtain an infinite number of transmission ratios.

Power is transmitted directly to the ring gear of the planetary gear set and to its planet gears, via the chain variator.

This split means that not all the power has to pass through the variator, which improves power transmission and efficiency. The ring gear is then coupled to the output shaft, which is itself coupled to the axle.

Smooth performance and easy operation
The Boomer EasyDrive™ offers a speed range from 0,3 km/h to 30 km/h and varies smoothly and infinitely between slow and fast speeds, without jerks. Sensors measure torque, engine speed and variator speed to manage the transmission electronically.

When the tractor starts off or requires higher torque, EasyDrive™ automatically shifts to a lower ratio, then returns to a higher, more fuel-efficient ratio when the load decreases.

The operator therefore needs only a reverser lever and a speed control pedal to manage the transmission. The pedal acts on engine speed and the transmission module optimises the forward speed according to the load.

When the pedal is released, the tractor will slow down to a progressive, controlled stop and hold its position, even on a steep slope.

Three transmission modes provide a forward speed of 30%, 60% and 100% of maximum speed at full pedal travel. The operator can thus choose their speed range according to the work in hand; the first quarter of the pedal travel makes it possible to modulate the forward/reverse clutch to hitch up equipment.

The highly flexible EasyDrive™ transmission gives the operator a very pleasant level of control and offers useful driving assistance, delivering the best daily output.

An 'anti-stall' function shifts the transmission to neutral before the engine stalls, which is handy when pushing a front loader into dense material or in the event of a sudden overload.

Timing settings allow the operator to adjust how quickly the ratios change. The 'fast' setting is used when working with a front loader, while the 'slow' setting is more appropriate to avoid damaging surfaces when working on grassed areas.

In addition, an automotive-type cruise control allows the operator to maintain or fine-tune working speeds during constant-speed work.

By outperforming the latest hydrostatic developments, the innovative EasyDrive™ transmission offers New Holland customers a higher degree of efficiency and functionality.

New Holland's Intelligent User Interface puts a harvest expert in the cab
The growing sophistication of modern combine harvesters and the increasing need to obtain maximum grain quality with minimum losses have made operating a combine harvester a specialist job.

New Holland's Intelligent User Interface puts a wealth of experience at the operator's disposal by automatically managing throughput and fine-tuning settings at the touch of a button.

This system, winner of a special mention in the SIMA 2009 innovation awards, allows operators to work with peace of mind and get the most out of the machine for maximum performance.

Expert settings
Faced with the very wide range of machine settings required by the variety of crops and their conditions, a farmer or contractor needs considerable experience to make the machine work at optimum capacity.

These settings are all the more critical with the trend towards replacing several combine harvesters with a single larger machine. T

he difference between incorrect or approximate settings and a well-adjusted machine can generate significant differences in hourly output and grain quality. The driver is therefore under increased pressure at the wheel of a very high-output machine.

New Holland's Intelligent User Interface allows the driver to quickly and easily optimise the combine harvester's settings for any crop and in any condition.

The essential operating parameters are continuously recorded and displayed on the IntelliView monitor and compared with those defined before work began.

When these parameters go outside the predefined limits, the operator presses the ACS (Automatic crop setting) help key on the IntelliView monitor and the system will recommend changes to certain combine harvester settings.

The operator can choose to accept or ignore the recommendations and, if they accept, the combine harvester will automatically change the necessary settings.

The Intelligent User Interface will first alter the parameter furthest from the optimum setting. Once confirmed by the operator, the system will wait 60 seconds to analyse the effect of the new setting before making further recommendations.

Grain losses from the separation and cleaning units as well as the tailings volume are monitored. It is even possible to manage broken grains or impurities when the New Holland 'Grain Cam' system is installed, a system that has also won numerous awards.

The threshing drum or rotor speeds, the concave position, the sieve opening and the cleaning fan speed can be adjusted by the 'Grain Cam' system to optimise performance. Suggestions for making other adjustments will also be provided.

Increased daily output
When the settings parameters are established by an experienced driver, the machine does not really need to be checked regularly.

Operators with more limited experience can set up the machine quickly and easily, knowing that the settings are determined by the conditions of the work in hand to ensure that the machine's best throughput is achieved.

Unlike other systems, the Intelligent User Interface is the only system available that is capable of suggesting and implementing settings. The recommended settings are established for each crop, which allows the Intelligent User Interface to be used in all the grain-growing regions of the world.

New Holland will first introduce this new Intelligent User Interface technology on rotary combine harvesters in the CR9000 range.