Remote irrigation equipment

Effective irrigation is one the most important factors in ensuring successful harvests; around 250 million hectares world-wide, 12.7% of the world’s total area of agriculturally useable land, require irrigation.

The Rainstar E from Bauer, an international designer and manufacturer of irrigation equipment, is a new spray irrigation machine developed to play a role in achieving effective irrigation, and help enable underused agricultural land to be effectively employed.

Special features of the new unit include water saving technology that reduces water usage by up to 70%, and an adjusted capability that permits spraying to be varied according to plant types and growing processes. Essential requirements for the Rainstar E are reliability, stability and durability, especially considering the expectation for it to operate in all types of terrain. Its features therefore include solar/battery powered computer control; a special nozzle for low energy requirement; smooth water flow; four-speed gearbox for a wide range of precipitations; high quality galvanisation; and a robust durable chain drive.

The chain drive was adopted because of its simplicity and robustness in contrast to the alternative; a costly gear wheel motor option, which would have also imposed much stricter manufacturing tolerances. These features of the chain drive mechanism are particularly important where the irrigation unit is employed in remote areas; minimising maintenance demands and simplifying it when needed.

A significant achievement of the chain drive for this application is a speed reduction of 1:25 on a sprocket wheel of 2.6m diameter (typical chain drive reductions are in the region between 1:2 and 1:8). This is made possible by the drive mechanism’s design, which delivers power through a large number of teeth.

The chain specified by Bauer for the Rainstar drive is manufactured by Rexnord Kette: RexPro 16 B-1 and 20 B-1. RexPro was selected, following discussions with Rexnord’s partner Reiter, for its high wear and corrosion resistance characteristics plus its ability to resist stiffness even when left in long-term storage, or experiencing long periods of inactivity. Further, DIN 50021 Salt Spray tests have demonstrated RexPro’s exceptionally high resistance to corrosion, while still offering financial savings over alternative stainless steel and coated chains.

RexPro’s durability results from the use of high quality special steel, optimisation of manufacturing processes (including shot peening, high pre-loading, ball drifting and seamless rollers) and special lubricant. As well as bestowing enhanced corrosion and wear resistance, the factory applied mineral oil-based lubricant has minimal effects on the environment because, unlike alternatives, it contains no PTFE or silicone, exceeding all current environmental standards.

www.rexnord.eu

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