New Invention helping prevent Header fires
- By: "Farm Tender" News
- Sheep & Wool News
- Aug 16, 2017
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Header fires in pulse crops in Victoria’s Mallee region last season have spawned an innovative airflow system designed to be retrofitted to harvesters.
The Tornado Harvester Airflow System is not designed as a cooling system, but rather uses the header’s hydraulics to drive a blower fan blasting dust and crop residue from potential hot spots.
Developed by Horsham Hydraulics, the Tornado can be retrofitted to Case IH and John Deere harvesters with CLAAS, Gleaner, Massey Ferguson and New Holland kits expected to be available by next season.
Horsham Hydraulics director, Richard Nagorcka, has been overwhelmed by the positive response from growers and contractors experiencing machinery and crop loss through header fires.
"This is unique and there is such a need for something like this throughout Australia," Nagorcka says.
Birth of an idea
The idea of the fan system was conceived by brothers Chris and Frank Burchell, of Horsham, after a fire damaged a header during a contract harvesting job at Swan Hill in November 2016.
"The header we were working with was lighting up all the time in lentils," Chris Burchell says.
The Burchells have experienced header fires in the past in pulse crops.
"The dust builds up on the hot spots of the engine manifold, turbo and engine exhaust muffler – it smoulders and starts dropping down everywhere," Chris says.
"We were blowing the header down every half an hour using a 250 CFM (cubic feet per minute) industrial air compressor."
Chris says thick dust usually masked the danger and the first sign of fire was smoke coming through the air-conditioning system, or a signal from the chaser bin driver.
"It happened to us at 11am – I had already serviced the header and blown it down, and I was only going for half an hour," he says.
"The fire damaged electrical wiring and our GPS."
They were not alone. According to Chris, several other header fires occurred in the district that harvest.
"I would occasionally see smoke in the sky and think that was another header," he says.
It then dawned on the Burchell brothers that air could be the answer to the problem.
"Air would keep the machine’s hot spots clean, so I called Richard at Horsham Hydraulics in late November, and we met at O’Connors' Horsham dealership," Chris says.
"We worked out a design for a fan system for the two headers working on our job.
"Frank (Burchell)'s 15-year-old son, Patrick, was driving the header for us and we needed to take the risk out of the operation for employees, especially when harvesting fire-risk crops."
Tornado Harvester Airflow System
Richard Nagorcka worked with Horsham air movement specialist, Smallaire, on a fan fitted with a ventilated cover.
Fine-tuning resulted in a custom valve designed by Richard to tap into the hydraulic system on modern headers, using componentry manufactured by Danish company, Danfoss.
The six-inch fan is protected by a ventilated cover and runs off the header hydraulics.
Running at 4000rpm, the six-outlet manifold blows air on to potential hot spots of the exhaust manifold, turbo and exhaust at a volume of 1500-2000 CFM.
The system can be branched out to eight or 12 outlets for additional coverage.
"The other outlets are pointed to spots where traditionally the dust has accumulated, such as around the battery box, chopper shaft, bearings and on top of the feeder housing adapter," Nagorcka says.
"Outlets can be also used to blow off other areas where there is an accumulation of straw and dust. With pulse crops having a low ignition factor, it’s not a matter of bringing the temperature down but keeping the dust away from those hot spots so that it doesn’t settle."
The Tornado Harvester Airflow System is operated from a monitor in the header cab equipped with a rev counter to indicate fan speed, plus an on-off switch.
An alarm alerts the operator if the fan speed drops below 1000rpm.
Last season, the prototype was fitted to six headers for trialling, including machines by Case IH and John Deere.
The system can have up to 12 outlets blasting dust off the header’s hot spots.
Nagorcka says the John Deere S670 and earlier models required an additional pump to fit the Tornado.
He adds discussions had been held with insurance companies, but there was no indication of either an excess or premium discount for machines fitted with the Tornado.
"We are giving the insurance industry as much information as possible, so the Tornado can become an accredited system, hopefully by next harvest," Nagorcka adds.
"These systems are not a guarantee that fires will not start – common sense does have to prevail, especially on dangerous fire-risk days. Electrical wiring faults, bearings and rock strikes can all be a cause."
Overwhelming response
Nagorcka says industry response to the innovation had been overwhelming.
A demonstration model on a trailer has toured this week to various locations in regional Queensland and New South Wales including Peak Hill, Narrabri, Moree, Goondiwindi, Dalby, Roma and St George.
It will be at Walgett and Coonamble on August 3, Nevertire on August 4 and finish at Nyngan Ag Expo on August 5.
The Tornado will also be exhibited at the AgQuip field days in Gunnedah (NSW), which will be held from August 22 to 24 this year.
Richard Nagorcka successfully trialled the Tornado system in six headers during last harvest
Distributors and fitters have been appointed in southern Queensland, northern NSW and Victoria.
According to an industry research, about seven per cent of harvesters will be affected by fire, with around 75 per cent of those fires originating in the engine or engine bay.
Others are caused by failed bearings, brakes, and sparks from electrical short circuits, static electricity or rock strikes.
Chickpea, sunflower, lupin and lentil crops are more flammable due to their high malic and oxalic acid content.
The Burchells retrofitted a Case IH 7120 to harvest their own vetch, canola, barley, wheat and lentils across 1000ha.
Chris Burchell says the Tornado will give operators peace of mind.
"It will make the machinery operation so much easier without the operator thinking all the time, will the header catch on fire tonight," Chris says.
"With the average price of headers being $700,000 to $900,000, this equates to around two per cent of the machine’s value.
"Our phones haven’t stopped ringing as we had neighbours who couldn’t get from one end of the paddock to the other without their headers lighting up. After putting the Tornado system on, they are saying it was money well spent."
“For our own harvest, we had three headers equipped with the fan system. Now we wouldn’t have a header working without the fan system on it.’’
Frank Burchell expects the Tornado to become a pre-requisite for growers engaging contract harvesters in crops with a high fire risk.
"Growers will get a header which will keep on rolling rather than having smoke coming out of it," he says.
"With a header fire, we are talking lots of dollars of machinery and crop. It’s a small outlay for safety, peace of mind and getting that crop off."
The Tornado Harvester AirFlow System will retail from $A14,000 plus GST, plus fitting.
For more information, contact Richard Nagorcka on 0412 784 366.
Specifications
Fan output: 1500-2000 CFM
Number of outlets: 6 to 12
Power requirements : 6kW (8hp)
Warranty: 12 months
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