LINTTAS advances with groundbreaking electric harvester design
Australian startup LINTTAS is on the brink of a partnership with the University of Southern Queensland to advance its revolutionary combine harvester concept. With a focus on electrification and a pioneering linear threshing approach, LINTTAS aims to create a virtual prototype within a year that could demonstrate up to 30% energy savings compared to traditional harvesters.
The partnership with the University of Southern Queensland will help LINTTAS to have research done for its combine harvester concept, and create the prototype. “With a virtual prototype, we will have something we can demonstrate. We can show people how this works, and how it can save energy”, initiator Terry Krieg explains.
The concept entails the implementation of electrification, and a pioneering linear threshing approach promises efficiency, speed, and cost-effectiveness, with the potential of achieving up to 30% in energy savings. “In the history of harvesters, no one ever considered energy-saving”, Krieg underlines.
It took initiators Malcolm Lucas and Terry Krieg from South Australia 9 years develop the electric harvester, including operation of an on-farm prototype. “We have taken all the learnings from that and have come up with a new concept design”, Krieg says. “We now want to demonstrate how this design works, and build a virtual prototype. Then we can show in simulation how well this harvester performs.”
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Production partner
LINTTAS is also talking to several original equipment manufacturers (OEMS) overseas, Krieg points out. “Our first choice is to maximise the benefit for Australia, but we recognise this is really a global industry. What we are looking for, is a potential production partner, so we can come up with a real field prototype that we can eventually take into production and sell around the world.”
Krieg believes their technology is a game changer. “We have chosen to develop the combine harvester, but we think we can apply this to other agricultural machines. It’s a whole different way of designing a machine because it’s electric.”
We can use AI to adapt as the combine harvester moves through the crop, as the characteristics of the crop change
“It’s the right time in history to be doing this. Electrics opened the way for us. We have actually built in AI, using machine learning. Because the electrics give this precise control over shaft speeds, we can use AI to adapt as the combine harvester moves through the crop, as the characteristics of the crop change. That is the key advantage of electrics.”
Krieg says that the company has spoken to a lot of farmers about the concept. “We don’t think a farmer will buy an electric machine because it’s electric. But if we have a machine that performs better than anything else, with significant lower running costs.”
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Fully repairable by farmers
The electric harvester will initially be powered by a diesel generator but has the potential to convert to hydrogen power if that technology becomes available. The company also plans to use induction motors, to keep the costs low.
LINTTAS is using an innovative grain separation process. LINTTAS, or Linear Threshing, Turbulent Air Separation, was designed to maximise the benefits that can be achieved by electrification of the grain separation process in a combine harvester. The process is based on a conventional harvesting system, conventional, gravity-based linear threshing system. The company has filed a provisional patent for its core LINTTAS system, and is looking at an international patent as well.
LINTTAS aims to establish a new business model with a machine that is fully repairable by farmers and where possible, using off-the-shelf components. This will make it possible for local electricians to deal with repairs if necessary. “This has to be considered at the design-stage. We believe the right to repair is really important”, Krieg says. “For a long time, farmers have been held to ransom by big OEMS. Parts and repairs are often expensive.”
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A platform you can upgrade
“We don’t want a machine that has to be replaced after three years. It’s a platform that you can continually upgrade, as time goes on. It should be a bit like a software product. You have to be able to get upgrades and keep it going.”
Initiators Malcolm Lucas and Terry Krieg delivered a paper describing their journey of the electric combine harvester during the international trade fair Agritechnica in Hanover, Germany in November last year. “One of the reasons we went to Hanover was to check where we are in the world with our progress”, Krieg explains.
“It turns out no one else seems to be working on what we are doing. There are electric tractors for generally under 100 horsepower, but there doesn’t seem to be a solution for large machines. People are still looking at diesels.”
A farmer can use one of his paddocks as a solar farm for example, and actually generate hydrogen, that can be used as fuel
“But we had some discussions with diesel motor manufacturers, and a number of them are already designing hydrogen engines. One of the possibilities I read about in a report is that farmers could produce hydrogen on the farm in the future. A farmer can use one of his paddocks as a solar farm for example, and actually generate hydrogen, that can be used as fuel. Whether that is a feasible solution in the long run, we don’t know.”
The company recently has been supported by Australian innovation Agrotechnical program Farmers2Founders and growAg, Krieg explains. “They’ve been really good. It has been particularly helpful to think through the challenges.”
