Gordon Adler and Henning Weidhase founded the German design studio in 2005. The company has worked for Liebherr, Daimler, Eon, VW and the Fraunhofer Institute.
Recent developments have shown the need for larger, more
powerful agricultural vehicles. The trend is towards heavier
machines that require more traction – however, higher soil
compaction and therefore lower crop yields can result.
Together with our new intern, Benjamin Wysk, we came up
with four flexible concepts that would distribute this increased
force over more of the ground. But a large drive area can result
in relatively slow movement as well as a larger turning radius,
as it’s not always possible to redistribute the vehicle’s mass.
Concept A used a delta-chain drive. These are mainly
designed for large-scale farming areas due to their smaller
contact surface pressure. We wanted to exaggerate this effect
by allowing individual sections to move.
Concept B used tyres with a rough profile, with offshoots
that may spread to the left and right. These provide a better
weight distribution, as well as excellent traction.
Mounted in the wheel rim, Concept C was a mechanism that
allows individual ‘track pads’ to protrude from inside a second
ring of the bearing and widen the footprint.
Finally, Concept D offered four bands of reinforced rubber to
provide the necessary support surface for easy forward movement
in larger agricultural areas, but can be lifted vertically to minimise
the contact with the ground for enhanced mobility.
The final design, a combination of A and D, delivers increased
manoeuvrability with lower ground pressure. Ground contact of
each of the four delta-chains can be reduced or increased by
pivoting around the central axis. In addition, the individual chain
links can spread to the left and right. This is made possible by
a gear system, with a strip of reinforced rubber forming the
foundation and each of the links located on the tape in a
guide. In this state, soil compaction can be massively reduced.
* Click on a thumbnail below to view a larger image.
Email: adler@lintje.de / weidhase@lintje.de
Website: www.lintje.de
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