The possibility of using methods normally adopted in the field of industrial design and applied to agricultural machines, meeting the needs and peculiarities of the agricultural sector, has allowed us to bring innovation to the sector through targeted choices on the operating machines. We have developed some ideas, including the tank for the transport of manure.
The tanker is a very special tool. Normally it’s designed and built as a simple barrel on a structure. We have worked and researched together with tank users in order to fully understand the needs of this tool, that seems simple but with special needs. For example, usually the larger tanker have a very high centre of gravity, that we have carefully studied in order to understand if we could lower down the centre of gravity.
With our approach we focused on functionality, safety as well on the image that the manufacturing company can provide to the customers and users of these machines. The tank is an object that has many peculiarities with an aesthetic impact, but our goal was not the image as an end in itself, but to combine the needs and the functions of the agricultural sector.
Today, glass fiber is mainly used in the naval sector. If you think of all the boats made of fiberglass that stay in water, in galvanic current and last 30 years, it can be said very well that in the same way such a tanker could really last many years.
The livestock waste sewage inside the tank is very acidic, and this is why galvanized steel is used a lot in the sector, a material that causes many constraints. One among them is the weight.
The chaise of fiberglass has taken into consideration many structural elements including the preparation and arrangement of the various mechanical parts arranged on the vehicle.
We worked focusing on the constructive layout: we tried to rationalize the setting up of these barrel wagons and with the manufacturer we tried to revolutionize the work process, even forgetting the steel, apart from the mechanical parts and the frame which it was incorporated into the tank, upsetting the construction process. In this case a mold was used that speeded up all subsequent steps.
In this project we worked together with Phitec Ingegneria for the structural part relating to the glass fiber, but this is not the only way to approach the sector. We followed this method – a combination of different skills to contribute to a result and in this case we used glass fiber.
This design approach, of structural and functional analysis, can also be declined with more traditional materials such as steel, bringing something different also to move away from tradition.
On the market, operating machines tend to be similar. Having these available tools is possible to define models with a different approach, useful for the image of the manufacturer and for end users, whether contractor or farm.
When a manufacturer approaches us, among his desire there is above all the need to have a product different from others. It is important to guarantee this difference and originality.
