John Deere’s model new 500R sprayer can 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 can be constructed upon sooner or later. iVT finds out in regards to the pondering behind the brand new design and the challenges that needed to be overcome to ship this future-ready machine
When John Deere’s engineering workforce analysed their European sprayer lineup in 2019, they confronted a important determination: improve their current platform or begin afresh. The reply got here down to at least one basic issue – the place of the cab restricted its most measurement… and so started the method of designing a totally new automobile.
“Clients had been telling us they wished an even 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 workforce that developed the specification for what would turn into the 500R.
The brand new automobile debuts at Agritechnica this November: a totally reimagined selfpropelled sprayer to interchange the earlier R41 vary, that shifts the cab from mid-chassis to the entrance, creating a brand new expertise for the operator by way of cab entry, visibility and area.
Assembled within the firm’s Horst manufacturing unit 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 principle markets being the UK, Eire, Germany and France.
The design challenges
The engineering problem of transferring the cab ahead went past merely understanding how one can bolt it to the entrance of the chassis. One of many important 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 wish to get to round a 50/50 weight break up.”
This stability is important 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 resolution locations the engine on the rear of the machine – although nonetheless inside the wheelbase – whereas positioning the tank nicely ahead within the chassis.
“The burden of the tank actually counterbalances the growth once you’re in operation,” says James. “In its worst-case state of affairs (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 street.”
This configuration additionally delivers a further profit: distinctive cab quietness. “You’ve acquired 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, if you happen to flip it up.”
Curiously, the design workforce did contemplate different configurations, together with inserting the engine beneath the cab or underneath the entrance of the tank. “With all of these conditions, there have been compromises by way of weight distribution, but in addition a compromise round service entry,” says James. The chosen rear-engine format, whereas unconventional, supplies optimum serviceability – essential given the potential affect of service necessities throughout important spraying home windows.
Up to now sprayer cabs have at all times been positioned centrally inside the wheelbase of spraying autos as a way to guarantee essentially the most snug trip. Placing the cab on the entrance of the 500R created an extra problem for engineers in matching the sleek trip 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 inside the wheel envelope.
James says the one case the place the R41 would possibly nonetheless have the sting could be working quick on a street 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 an even 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 a luxurious seat.” Up sides that very a lot meet the market calls for on this sector.
Within the means of engaged on enhancing the trip, designers tried an actively managed seat within the cab, however counterintuitively this was not successful. “After we examined that, the lively seat made the trip worse, it didn’t make it higher,” says James.
Regardless of the radically totally different look, the 500R does protect profitable parts from its predecessor. The twin-beam, torsion-rigid chassis design stays essentially related, although prolonged with the entrance platform. “If you happen to strip all of it again to its chassis, the chassis seems very related,” says James, representing this automobile vary as an evolution of confirmed engineering quite than change for its personal sake.
Different applied sciences have been strategically integrated from throughout the John Deere product line, which means that elements with confirmed reliability over tens of millions of hours of service can be utilized, although the sprayer market is low quantity. For instance, the 6.8-litre dual-turbo engine, rated at 300 horsepower with clever energy administration enhance, comes from the corporate’s bestselling 6R tractor. “We all know it’s very dependable, and we all know it performs very nicely,” says James.
John Deere partnered with key part suppliers together with Sauer- Danfoss for hydrostatic drive motors, pumps, and steering valves; Bonfiglioli for ultimate drives; Hypro for the spraying pump with ForceField seal know-how for run-dry safety; and Banjo for filling pumps and digital valves.
CANbus to Ethernet
Whereas revolutionary place of the cab is eye-catching, inside the automobile’s digital comms structure there may be one other distinction which, although invisible to the informal exterior observer, is not any much less vital. “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 quicker information transmission and bigger information volumes, notably for applied sciences like John Deere’s See & Spray precision utility, which is more likely 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. Relatively 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 screen, quite than mounted run pages. “You’re not scrolling by means of a lot of menus, the to search out the data 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 normal, 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 will embody discipline steerage traces and limits, or the identify 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 resolution system, a European-developed know-how now being rolled globally, eliminates stress regulators totally. As an alternative, it controls spray pump velocity immediately, reacting “4 to 5 instances quicker than a machine with a stress regulator,” in response to James.
The system consists of totally 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 varied 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 varieties, and pulse width modulation (PWM) for move charge management with out stress modifications.
“PWM provides us the power to set the stress and droplet measurement,” says James. Decrease stress creates bigger droplets for drift discount, whereas larger stress produces finer droplets for higher protection. The system additionally supplies flip compensation, adjusting move charges throughout the growth width throughout turns.
“This new [electronics] structure can be a worldwide normal”
A current breakthrough allows totally different utility charges throughout the growth width. “Beforehand, we needed to apply one charge throughout the entire 36 metres. Now now we have the power to separate that into 11 totally different sections,” says James, “which is kind of a giant deal for precision agriculture.”
Future-Prepared Platform
See & Spray integration is “in all probability about two years away” pending discipline testing, however the 500R is prepared for growing automation. Flip automation through 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 truly doing something,” says James.
Different key automated capabilities of the 500R embody growth lifting. “That is pulling the growth suggestions up in order that they don’t hit the bottom as you flip,” says James. “And this now incorporates the ahead velocity of the automobile, so the automobile slows down routinely. If you come out of the flip, it should put all these items again once more and routinely interact the AutoTrac to steer the machine down the sector.”
With so many automated capabilities, is a future the place the operator is eliminated fully now within reach? James says that no official timeline exists for totally autonomous operation, however acknowledges the 500R supplies a succesful platform. “The bit that we would wish so as to add could be the security and safety techniques. For instance recognizing an individual within the discipline that could be close to or obstructing the trail of the machine,” he says.
These security techniques symbolize the first technical hurdle quite than the automation know-how itself, with Ethernet structure making certain the 500R can quickly undertake rising, data-heavy applied sciences. “This new structure can be a worldwide normal,” predicts James.
As John Deere prepares for the 500R’s public debut at Agritechnica, the machine stands as each a response to speedy market calls for and a platform for future innovation. The mixture of confirmed elements, revolutionary communication structure, and considerate design selections positions it to serve European farmers nicely into an more and more automated and precisionfocused future.
This text first appeared within the October difficulty of iVT
