From slide rules to computers

One of the great things about being a machinery editor is you occasionally get invited to vist engineering and assembly plants. R&D facilities, where machines are designed and tested, are fascinating. Watching new tractors go through a variety of tests intended to break them is something to see.

The testing bays at R&D facilities belonging to the major manufacturers involve some pretty sophisticated technology, almost all of which is computer controlled. For example at the ride-simulation station, engineers park a tractor with each wheel on one of four hydraulically-controlled platforms. Each one independently bounces the tractor around according to data fed into a program. It can simulate a back-breaking, high-speed run over very rough ground or other experience based on real-world situations. After several hours of this punishment, engineers check axles and chassis components for cracks.

And while you really have to pity the tractor chosen for this test, the automated procedure means some poor engineering technician doesn't have to drive it over a bump track for hours on end to get the same result, which was standard operating procedure a couple of decades ago.

Even though there is still a need for physical testing, engineers now can be pretty certain components will pass before things get to that stage. Once again, using computers allows them to reliably predict a system's durability.

But long before a tractor ends up taking real punishment in a testing bay, engineers turn to the virtual world early on in the development process. They use 3-D computer simulation to fine tune a machine's design.

John Deere's virtual reality booth at their Waterloo, Iowa, facility allows engineers to stand inside a 3-D image and evaluate everything from component design to HVAC air-flow patterns in the cab. Photo: courtesy John Deere.

I've been lucky enough to get a firsthand look and feel of that virtual world a couple of times. At Case IH's Burr Ridge, Illinois, R&D facility, engineers used state-of-the-art virtual modelling to design the new Magnum and Steiger tractors, which were introduced in August. And they gave journalists a chance to experience how it was done during a media event last summer.

When photographed in Case IH's virtual reality room, the image of this Steiger looks a little blurry. But sitting in front of the screen with the correct glasses, it looks so convincing you're tempted to duck to avoid being hit by it as the computer operator rotates the image.

Getting a chance to sit inside a virtual Steiger was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. To do it, I sat in a tractor seat that was positioned in front of a wall-sized screen and put on the 3-D headset along with a special glove fitted with computer sensors. As a technician started the program, I suddenly found myself inside the cab of a virtual tractor, with the ability to reach out and touch the controls. As I turned my head, I could look out all the windows and get a feel for the space and control arrangements inside. It was an entertaining experience, but it is more than a toy to amuse visitors.

According to Case IH staff, this technology is priceless. It's a chance to do things like get a feel for proposed control layouts and vision obstructions before investing time and energy building a component. And as individual engineers work on sperate projects, all of which are intended to come together on one machine, Case IH's program is capable of marrying all the separate computer designs together. The team can then actually see how each part looks on the tractor. That ensures a seamless fit into the overall design, ensuring there are no conflicts with other sub-assemblies. All of this happens before anyone cuts a single piece of steel.

In the past, technicians would have to hand-fabricate parts and physically bolt them together to build a design prototype. Often, parts wouldn't mate properly or they'd need refinement, and the process would have to be repeated until everything fit as it should. That took time and cost a lot of money. Now, not until everything checks out in the animation program do technicians actually build it.

The result is machines make the transition from concept to farm field in record time with minimum development costs. The good news is if manufacturers can turn out a machine more economically, farmers may not have dig as deeply into their pockets to buy it.

Scott