John Deere’s model new 500R sprayer might be unveiled for the primary time at Agritechnica. A whole redesign positions the cab proper on the entrance, does away with CANbus in favour of ethernet, and creates a platform with a number of automated and precision farming options that are prepared to make use of now and might be constructed upon sooner or later. iVT finds out in regards to the considering behind the brand new design and the challenges that needed to be overcome to ship this future-ready machine
When John Deere’s engineering staff analysed their European sprayer lineup in 2019, they confronted a essential resolution: improve their current platform or begin afresh. The reply got here down to 1 basic issue – the place of the cab restricted its most measurement… and so started the method of designing a very new car.
“Prospects had been telling us they wished a much bigger cab. The market, particularly in UK and Germany, actually demanded that,” says Mark James, John Deere’s sprayer specialist for Northern England, Scotland, and Eire, who was a part of the unique five-person staff that developed the specification for what would change into the 500R.
The brand new car debuts at Agritechnica this November: a very reimagined selfpropelled sprayer to switch the earlier R41 vary, that shifts the cab from mid-chassis to the entrance, creating a brand new expertise for the operator when it comes to cab entry, visibility and house.
Assembled within the firm’s Horst manufacturing facility within the Netherlands, there are two fashions within the line up – a 550R and the 540R – with tank capacities of 5,000 litres or 4,000 litres respectively. Each have the choice of a 30m or 36m metal growth. The primary 500Rs are anticipated to achieve prospects om Europe from summer time 2026, with the primary markets being the UK, Eire, Germany and France.
The design challenges
The engineering problem of transferring the cab ahead went past merely understanding learn how to bolt it to the entrance of the chassis. One of many essential issues with designing a sprayer is available in perfecting weight distribution.
“Weight distribution of our predecessor machine was, within the worst state of affairs – growth out, tank full – about 60/40, with 60% on the rear finish,” says James. “From a sprayer perspective, you need to get to round a 50/50 weight break up.”
This stability is essential for soil safety and hill-climbing functionality. When a rear-heavy machine operates on slopes, it loses traction on the entrance wheels as weight shifts backward. The 500R’s answer locations the engine on the rear of the machine – although nonetheless throughout the wheelbase – whereas positioning the tank properly ahead within the chassis.
“The load of the tank actually counterbalances the growth once you’re in operation,” says James. “In its worst-case situation (full tank with growth prolonged), the 500R achieves a 48/52 front-to-rear weight distribution, changing into barely noseheavy when empty and on the highway.”
This configuration additionally delivers a further profit: distinctive cab quietness. “You’ve received an entire tank stuffed with liquid between the engine and the operator station,” says James. “The noisiest factor within the cab might be the cooling fan, in the event you flip it up.”
Curiously, the design staff did contemplate various configurations, together with putting the engine beneath the cab or below the entrance of the tank. “With all of these conditions, there have been compromises when it comes to weight distribution, but additionally a compromise round service entry,” says James. The chosen rear-engine structure, whereas unconventional, supplies optimum serviceability – essential given the potential affect of service necessities throughout essential spraying home windows.
Prior to now sprayer cabs have all the time been positioned centrally throughout the wheelbase of spraying automobiles to be able to guarantee essentially the most snug experience. Placing the cab on the entrance of the 500R created an extra problem for engineers in matching the sleek experience of the predecessor R41 vary, however this has been achieved in almost all use instances because of the superior air suspension system.
The suspension system, sourced from John Deere’s bigger US-built sprayers produced at Des Moines (the place the corporate builds roughly 7,000 machines yearly), options air springs positioned throughout the wheel envelope.
James says the one case the place the R41 would possibly nonetheless have the sting could be operating quick on a highway and going over a velocity bump. “It’s the compromise that it’s a must to make,” he says. “However the finish result’s you get a much bigger cab with room to stretch your legs, and also you get a fridge in it, and also you get extra space for storing and an opulent seat.” Up sides that very a lot meet the market calls for on this sector.
Within the means of engaged on bettering the experience, designers tried an actively managed seat within the cab, however counterintuitively this was not a hit. “After we examined that, the energetic seat made the experience worse, it didn’t make it higher,” says James.
Regardless of the radically totally different look, the 500R does protect profitable components from its predecessor. The twin-beam, torsion-rigid chassis design stays essentially related, although prolonged with the entrance platform. “In the event you strip all of it again to its chassis, the chassis appears very related,” says James, representing this car vary as an evolution of confirmed engineering moderately than change for its personal sake.
Different applied sciences have been strategically included from throughout the John Deere product line, which means that parts with confirmed reliability over thousands and thousands of hours of service can be utilized, even supposing the sprayer market is low quantity. For instance, the 6.8-litre dual-turbo engine, rated at 300 horsepower with clever energy administration increase, comes from the corporate’s bestselling 6R tractor. “We all know it’s very dependable, and we all know it performs very properly,” says James.
John Deere partnered with key part suppliers together with Sauer- Danfoss for hydrostatic drive motors, pumps, and steering valves; Bonfiglioli for last drives; Hypro for the spraying pump with ForceField seal expertise for run-dry safety; and Banjo for filling pumps and digital valves.
CANbus to Ethernet
Whereas progressive place of the cab is eye-catching, throughout the car’s digital comms structure there may be one other distinction which, although invisible to the informal exterior observer, is not any much less important. “This isn’t a CANbus machine any longer,” says James. “The communication between the person controllers on the machine is by Ethernet.”
This shift is pushed by the necessity for sooner knowledge transmission and bigger knowledge volumes, significantly for applied sciences like John Deere’s See & Spray precision software, which is prone to be built-in into the 500R vary sooner or later. “You couldn’t simply take that from the US machines and put it onto our previous European machine as a result of it’s distinctive,” says James. Reasonably than upgrading previous digital structure, the info calls for of the system impressed the entire redesign. The brand new system runs the identical software program as American sprayers, that includes an appbased interface on the G5Plus in-cab display, moderately than mounted run pages. “You’re not scrolling by way of plenty of menus, the to search out the knowledge that you really want. It’s simply there in entrance of you,” says James.
To help precision agriculture, the 500R comes with an built-in StarFire 7500 receiver constructed into the cab roof as commonplace, offering ±10cm positioning accuracy. That is linked to the John Deere Operations Centre, enabling farmers and contractors to plan functions upfront and ship the required data to the sprayer.
This could embrace subject steering strains and limits, or the title of the product and quantity to be utilized, with real-time progress and a report of all functions saved routinely.
Spray what you need
The PowerSpray answer system, a European-developed expertise now being rolled globally, eliminates stress regulators fully. As a substitute, it controls spray pump velocity immediately, reacting “4 to 5 occasions sooner than a machine with a stress regulator,” in accordance with James.
The system contains absolutely automated rinsing with three modes, automated agitation that adjusts to tank ranges, and the AirRinse system that makes use of compressed air to evacuate residual chemical from numerous circuits because the tank empties.
With a 95% take charge, the ExactApply nozzle physique system supplies particular person nozzle switching at 50cm spacing, computerized or guide switching between two nozzle sorts, and pulse width modulation (PWM) for movement charge management with out stress adjustments.
“PWM offers us the power to set the stress and droplet measurement,” says James. Decrease stress creates bigger droplets for drift discount, whereas increased stress produces finer droplets for higher protection. The system additionally supplies flip compensation, adjusting movement charges throughout the growth width throughout turns.
“This new [electronics] structure might be a worldwide commonplace”
A current breakthrough allows totally different software charges throughout the growth width. “Beforehand, we needed to apply one charge throughout the entire 36 metres. Now we’ve got the power to separate that into 11 totally different sections,” says James, “which is kind of an enormous deal for precision agriculture.”
Future-Prepared Platform
See & Spray integration is “most likely about two years away” pending subject testing, however the 500R is prepared for rising automation. Flip automation by way of GPS triggering is coming quickly as a part of the autumn software program replace. “At that time, the operator is simply minding the flip. They’re not really doing something,” says James.
Different key automated capabilities of the 500R embrace growth lifting. “That is pulling the growth ideas up so that they don’t hit the bottom as you flip,” says James. “And this now incorporates the ahead velocity of the car, so the car slows down routinely. Once you come out of the flip, it’ll put all this stuff again once more and routinely interact the AutoTrac to steer the machine down the sphere.”
With so many automated capabilities, is a future the place the operator is eliminated utterly now within reach? James says that no official timeline exists for absolutely autonomous operation, however acknowledges the 500R supplies a succesful platform. “The bit that we would want so as to add could be the protection and safety programs. For instance recognizing an individual within the subject that is likely to be close to or obstructing the trail of the machine,” he says.
These security programs symbolize the first technical hurdle moderately than the automation expertise itself, with Ethernet structure making certain the 500R can quickly undertake rising, data-heavy applied sciences. “This new structure might be a worldwide commonplace,” predicts James.
As John Deere prepares for the 500R’s public debut at Agritechnica, the machine stands as each a response to fast market calls for and a platform for future innovation. The mix of confirmed parts, revolutionary communication structure, and considerate design selections positions it to serve European farmers properly into an more and more automated and precisionfocused future.
This text first appeared within the October problem of iVT
