Claas recently won two golds at the SIMA innovation awards, for its panoramic cab concept which is on the Arion 400 tractor it produces.
The completely new panoramic cab concept on the Arion 400 tractor, which was launched this year and reached the final round of the ‘Tractor of the Year 2015’ competition, was the recipient of one of two gold medals.
The key feature of the new Panoramic tractor cab is its 2.41m² windscreen. The windscreen and polycarbonate roof are connected to each other without an upper crossbar. This gives the driver a completely new feeling of space and an unimpaired 90° field of view over the front loader, it says.
Félix Garrad, Product Manager of the Arion 400 model series at Claas tractor explained the special challenges encountered during development of the cab.
“The panoramic cab is ideal for working with a front loader. We needed a solution which, on the one hand, ensured safety and reliability while, on the other hand, doing away with components like the upper crossbar which limits visibility.”
He said that since the driver’s view of the front loader is not impaired by any blind spots, the driver can always sit in a comfortable position.
“This avoids all of the repetitive movements which place stress on the neck and lumbar spine of the driver and can cause back problems.”
The jury found that the new Vario cutterbar in the Vario 930 and 770 models with cutting widths of 9.30m and 7.70m for the Tucano and Lexion combine harvesters offers the required level of technical flexibility to master today’s harvesting processes with their regular crop rotations.
The crop dividers and rapeseed cutting knives can be attached and detached without the use of tools thanks to the quick-release couplings. The cutterbar table of the Vario can be steplessly and conveniently adjusted from the cab over a range of 700mm (-100mm to +600mm).
Whereas the rapeseed plates previously had to be inserted manually, they are now completely integrated into the cutterbar table on the new Vario.
“The new generation of Vario cutterbars represents the next logical stage in over 50 years of development of adjustable cutterbar tables. The new concept ensures quick adaptation to the grain and rapeseed harvest and is therefore the ideal system for harvesting the respective type of crop”, says Matthias Stauffer, Product Manager at CLAAS Self-Propelled Harvesting Machines.
The SIMA Innovation Awards are awarded every two years to recognise innovations in agricultural technology and agricultural services. This year, two gold medals, three silver medals and 18 special mentions were awarded.
