The Project
BRAU Technologies key focus at this point in time, is to
further develop the DRCH project. Established in March 2008 BRAU
Technologies was form in relation with southern farming company to further develop
their concepts. The DRCH Project is aimed at the design of a commercially
viable double row sugar cane harvester. From Southern Farming perspective
there was a need to adopt a wide swath harvesting technique, so that they
could remain a completive sugar cane farming business into the future.
Southern farming started to research possible harvesting/farming method to
adopt to remain completive. They found that the options were limited and
those that where available had limited development. So the need to fully
develop commercially viable double row sugar cane harvester was thought
best to overcome this problem. From this, the design of the Adjustable Feed
Train Sugar cane harvester was thought and investigated. Knowledge gained
from years of experience in sugar cane harvesting, inventors Jim and Ryan
Southern designed a harvester that would be widely accepted across the
sugar industry. Southern Farming submitted a provisional patent for the
design in June 2006 (Patent
Document Link) so they could further develop their idea
while maintaining intellectual property rights. This gave Southern Farming
the opportunity to gain industry knowledge on the concept through previous
government research, scale model design, pier group accreditation and
market research. From the knowledge gained from these exercises, BRAU
Technologies believes it has come up with best idea to date to adopt wide
swath harvesting in the sugar industry.
The DRCH Project is based around the design of the
Adjustable feed train for a sugar cane harvester. The Adjustable feed train
(AFT) is an independent feeding system connected from the main frame of the
sugar cane harvester (DRCH
Intro Link). The AFT is unique to a sugar cane harvester as
conventional harvester designs incorporate the feed train into the main
chaises of the machine. Having independent feed trains will allow the
product to adapt many different field conditions while maintaining
productivity for the owner. This concept will mainly benefit a dual or
double row machine because of the problems this design will overcome when
harvesting two row of sugar cane in single pass. The benefits of adopting
wide swath or double row harvesting, is well known and this product will be
widely accepted to any sugar cane producer’s interest in approving
efficiencies in their harvest. As harvesting cost continue to rise because
of oil price rises, labour, raw materials for spare parts and environment
legislation, it is important that the consumer gets the most out of their
capital.
Our interests lie in the growth of mechanised sugar cane
harvesting market, and capitalize on that through superior invention and
technology. Although there are many tough obstacles in our way due to
established markets and controls from some of the world’s leading
agricultural equipment manufacturers, such as Case IH and John Deere, we
hope that we could offer a more productive product while still remaining
cost competitive to these agricultural giants. This will give us the
advantage in a market that is based on performances and reputation (Market Link). Our
design of the AFT also has the added benefit for manufacture because it is
easily changed to suit different consumer requirements, without the need to
have many separate models to service different sugar cane growing
techniques across the industry.