BrimaPack harvester for broccoli and other leaf crops operates almost entirely on electrical power

The fully automated packing units for broccoli and other leaf crops produced by BrimaPack in Ulft are fully electrically powered; the harvesters the company builds ‘around’ the packing units are heading in the same direction. Lifting the veil on an unstoppable development with huge potential. Electrical cars are becoming ever more common. Take for example the Tesla: the basic model starts at a price of 66,900 euro, and with acceleration from 0 to 100 in 5.4 seconds, you know you will always be first to take off at the lights. It is all a question of the drive system that delivers maximum torque as soon as you hit the accelerator pedal. Using the same drive technology you can also pull away extremely smoothly, thanks to the massive pulling power. Work is already well underway on developing the first electrical tractors … and an electrically powered harvester for iceberg lettuce. ‘Simple and reliable’This last project is being undertaken at BrimaPack in Ulft, also specialists in fully automated packing machines for vegetable products including iceberg lettuce and broccoli. The combination of fully automated packing and electrical forward propulsion has resulted in a series of self-propelling harvesters, each of which is further developed than its predecessor. The tracks are purchased from an external supplier but the rest of the machine – including the drive system – is from BrimaPack. “Every system is built to customer specifications", explained director Ron van de Pavert. The widest operating harvester currently available is 16 metres wide, fitted with 8 packing machines with a capacity of 8400 heads of iceberg lettuce every hour. The platform layout is also customer specific, because of the different container type(s), the number of clients for whom the products are harvested at any one time and whether the customer wants each product individually labelled. The self-propelled harvester is now also in use for harvesting other crops including spinach and bok choy (of course equipped with the necessary harvesting systems). The harvester, commissioned on the first of July offers a harvesting width of 12 metres, with 6 fully automated units for packing iceberg lettuce at a maximum capacity of 6300 heads per hour. The unit, for a British customer, is equipped with … (The full article is available in the pdf below).Photo 1 - The harvester in full operation. Photo by Frank Gussinklo.Photo 2 - The harvester is a full 12 metres wide, and is fitted with 6 fully automated packing machines for packing iceberg lettuce. Its capacity is currently 6300 heads per hour. With this design, the field workers harvest in front of the machine. Photo by Joost Stallen. Foto 3 - A towed-chain as automatic steering device. Changes in direction are achieved by running one track slightly faster while reducing the speed of the other. As a result, forward movement speed remains the same. Photo by Joost Stallen. Key wordsBrócoli  bróculi  broccoli                               ??????              ???               brokolo                brocoli  ????????           ??????????                                               broku?y                brócolis                ????????           brokoli  ???????           Brokkoli               Poscosecha                postcosecha      postharvest       na-oes  ???????????    ??                     post-récolte      ???? ?? ?????????                        na-oogst             post-raccolta     Obróbka po       pós-colheita      ??????????????           hasat sonras?                     Ernte                ??????????????            ???? ???????????        postcollita           poskliz?ové       ??     ???                               nakon branja   pozberové                         obdelovanje zemlje po                post-colleita      ??????????      pascapanen       Éilíonn postharvest       ????          p?c ra?as             derliaus apdirbimas polepas tuai            ??????????  post-recoltare                ?????? ?????  ?????????????????        ???????????            ???????????????             sau thu ho?ch   ???????????????                zangemva kwenkathi yokuvuna