No matter what the food source, chances are there's a hydraulically powered machine to harvest it. For the June issue of Hydraulics & Pneumatics, we promised an article that explores the innovative engineering that goes into designing hydraulic systems for agricultural equipment.
If you go to page 28 of our June issue, you will find that we delivered with an article titled Lettuce harvester. This article discusses the challenges presented by the harvesting of lettuce and how fluid power technology helped machine builders to solve those challenges. This is an interesting success story on how several component manufacturers added their expertise to the solution.
One very interesting statement that emphasizes the value of fluid power systems in ag equipment is the statement and I quote "As with most agricultural equipment, the lettuce harvester uses hydrulcs for more than just propulsion. It also features hydraulic steering, breaking, positioning of implements, and it also drives the conveyors." That is a tall order for such a machine and the solution is fluid power.
This article was contributed by a fluid power distributor and a patent expert. Both authors added their expertise and insight into this unique design. It is this kind of content that mekes our magazine the Engineer's First Choice for Fluid Power Information.
