INTERVIEW KNOWLEDGE
INTERVIEW KNOWLEDGE Combined Powers is a joint project between Krone and Lemken. COMBINED POWERS THE TRAILBLAZER Krone and Lemken presented their joint concept study of an autonomous machine in March this year. XtraBlatt spoke to Krone R&D head Jan Horstmann about the background and aims of the project and its impact on future machines. Admittedly, the term “process unit”, or PU for short, does not sound very exciting at first. Indeed, it sounds a little boring. Similarly, the term “Combined Powers”, CP for short, does not trigger any sort of great enthusiasm, rather it sounds like a working title. However, once we explain the technology associated with these names, you will look at things a little differently. CP is an autonomous drive unit which can be used with very different types of agricultural equipment. And if that didn’t whet your appetite, then seeing the technology in use will. The process unit has been in development since 2017 as a joint project between Lemken and Krone, and that’s where the name Combined Powers comes from. The process unit was officially presented at a press event in March this year and a demo took place at a press workshop mid-May. “This unique technology is still at a very early stage of development, and that’s why it doesn’t have a proper name yet. Therefore, we see it as a concept study, rather than a product ready for market,” explains Jan Horstmann, managing director of RD at the Krone Agricultural Machinery division. PROCESS OPTIMISATION What makes the technology so unique? Krone and Lemken are, after all, not the first to research into autonomous vehicles. “The fundamental difference is that we’re not developing an autonomous host vehicle that will operated our brand equipment. This would be the same as developing a tractor and then the equipment to be mounted to it. With Combined Powers, we start by looking at the task at hand, and then gear the entire development of the process unit towards this task. That’s why we also don’t view this technology as a carrier vehicle. For us, the power unit, meaning the engine and the drive, is only a means to an end for operating attachments in the best way possible. The focus is always on the task at hand, for example mowing, tedding, raking, ploughing, cultivating and sowing. Optimising field processes is most definitely the focal point,” Jan Horstmann explains. 22 23
