Precision farming is necessary to produce enough food for the growing population. In order to keep the milk yield and feed costs optimal, a constant composition and mixing ratio of the feed for the cows, which is composed of different types of silage and additives, is essential.

Background information

Trioliet BV from Oldenzaal is a leading family business engaged in the development, production and sale of machines and systems for feeding cattle on livestock farms. In the Netherlands, Trioliet is the market leader in feed technology. Trioliet has been active in the Board-of-Industry set up by the Mechatronics research group since 2016. From this Board of Industry, regional companies can direct the research and knowledge building of the lectorate. As a leading company in the field of agricultural machinery, Trioliet patented a system that can measure the volume of silage about ten years ago. However, the technology available at the time did not lead to the desired accuracy in determining the volumes. With the current state of the art and price category, the time seems ripe for this implementation, with Trioliet also thinking in particular of radar technology. The system must be able to operate in rain, fog, snow, night and day. Trioliet has indicated from the Board-of-Industry that they want to collaborate with the research group to research new and existing sensors that mixer wagons can be placed so that silage volumes and thus the weight can be determined more accurately (up to 1%). As a result, loss of money and feed is kept to a minimum.

project Approach

Since its establishment in 2011, the Mechatronics research group has built up a great deal of knowledge in the field of sensors that are used for self-navigating robotic systems and recognizing objects. These sensors could potentially be used for the volume determination of silage. In addition, it wants research group to further expand knowledge in the field of sensors by conducting research into new or existing sensors that meet the desired specifications of Trioliet. In addition, the research group has extensive experience with the design methodologies of systems engineering with which the development process takes place in a structured manner from customer requirements via morphological overviews to a built and tested system. The mechatronics students are also trained in this.

The lectorate would therefore like to collaborate and contribute by using sensor expertise and system engineering to support Trioliet in clarifying the system requirements and user requirements.

project goal

The aim in this project is to make a selection of available sensors to accurately determine the volume of silage and to test it on a machine designated by Trioliet. The expansion of Trioliet's systems with advanced sensor technology will make the determination of silage volumes more accurate by a factor of 5. A complete and accurate investigation of available sensors is therefore essential to achieve this accuracy. This project will be divided into a part for researching available sensors and a part for testing selected sensors.

Duration project

Start project: 01-01-2017 - End project: 31-10-2017

Partners

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Saxion

Hogeschool in Enschede, Deventer en Apeldoorn

www.saxion.nl
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Tech for Future

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More information about the project?