KUBOTA TECHNICAL REPORT No.53 JANUARY 2020

In Japanese agriculture, against the background of an aging population, the proportion of inexperienced workers is increasing and the consequent shortage of skilled human resources is becoming a serious problem. As one of the solutions to this problem, in 2016, Kubota released onto the market a rice transplanter with a “Keeping Straight Function” for use in rice paddy cultivation. Similarly, field cultivation with a compact tractor requiring skilled and experienced operators has the same problem. To address this problem, Kubota has developed a compact tractor with “Keeping Straight Function” to save labor and improve efficiency (Fig.1). This paper describes the efforts made in the development process and definesthe characteristics of working with a compact tractor.

• Robot
• Automatic Steering
• GNSS
• GPS(Global Positioning System)
• Sloping Groun

In domestic agriculture, there is an ongoing process whereby farmland is being consolidated and taken over by large-scale farmers, and it is important to develop products that meet the needs of these leading farmers. Based on the concept of creating a "high-performance and high-precision rice transplanter that solves the management issues faced by farmers in charge", we have developed a product that features two major selling points: improvement in basic performance and reducing the consumption of materials. This paper describes, among the development technologies, efforts to improve Fukada's running ability, which is one of the basic requirements of a rice transplanter, and the development of the functions to “Maintain an even distance between rows” and “Maintain even fertilizer application” have been created as new selling points that lead to material savings.

• Ability to Run in Deep Rice Fields
• Weight Saving
• Material Saving
• High Accuracy
• Slip Compensation
• Hydrostatic Transmission

Sugarcane is one of the major crops in Asian countries. The sugarcane harvesters currently being used in the agricultural sector are imported from Europe; however, they are not popular because of high yield loss and a high degree of leaf contamination. Moreover, these machines are also expensive. Therefore, most harvesting (around 83%) is still done by hand and before harvesting the sugarcane leaves are removed by burning. But burning not only affects the farmer’s income from yield loss and reductions in the selling price, but it also causes the problem of air pollution (PM2.5). This has become such a serious problem in Thailand that the government has announced a “zero burn" policy to combat pollution. Therefore, Kubota Research and Development Asia (KRDA) has developed SLR110H to support the “zero burn” policy and help save the environment. Now, the sales volume of SLR110H is increasing steadily and we expect to export to every country throughout Asia.

• Sugarcane Leaf Remover
• Roller
• Trimmer

Recently, industrial diesel engines are required not only to deliver lower fuel consumption, but also to meet emission regulations and a range of customer demands. CRS-ECUs have become a more important factor to increase the value of the engine itself because applying advanced electronic control techniques with CRS has almost become indispensable for meeting these requirements. However, conventional development of CRS-ECUs is too costly because there are some issues with their hardware and software architectures. Hence, we have to establish a more efficient process to maintain our market competitiveness. In order to resolve these problems, we developed new CRS-ECUs.

• ECU
• Common Rail System
• Model-based Development
• AUTOSAR

In Europe's mini backhoe market, there is a high demand for machines in the 2-3 ton range with 10 000 units sold per year. In 2014, Kubota acquired a high share of this market segment with its 2.6 ton minimum tail swing excavator. To increase market share, we developed a 2.6 ton conventional tail swing compact excavator. Because of the physical size of European operators, there is a need in the European market to expand the 'living" space around the driver's seat. Accordingly, in the development of the KX027 we decided to increase the cabin size to enhance safety and provide a secure working environment. Because there are limitations on the weight of the KX027-4 for shipping, it is difficult to increase cabin size without increasing the cabin weight. In this paper, we explain the development of the KX027-4 aluminium cabin that allows the cabin size to be increased to better accommodate the operator comfortably while saving weight at the same time.

• Mini Backhoe
• Cabin
• Aluminium Alloy
• Increased "Living" Space
• Weight Saving

Cracking tubes are a key part of an ethylene plant in the petrochemical industry. Recently, there has been an increase in the number of plants, especially ethane cracking furnaces, adopting alumina forming tubes because highly efficient production can be expected due to their coking- and carburizing-resistant properties. On the other hand, Kubota's proprietary technology, MERT (Mixing Element Radiant Tube), has been adopted in over 600 furnaces, mainly naphtha furnaces, since MERT was developed about 20 years ago. Therefore we have developed a top level functional product "AFTALLOY+MERT" which is a combination of AFTALLOY (Kubota’s alumina forming tubes) and MERT technology. It has been installed in a commercial ethane cracking furnace of a major ethylene producer for performance evaluation. The results of the evaluation verified the excellent properties of the new product compared with the original MERT. In this paper, we report on our development activities and the results.

• Cracking Tube
• Coking
• Mixing Element
• Plasma Powder Arc Welding
• Alumina Forming

We have developed a new sludge fertilizer technology that can reduce the moisture content of sewage sludge to the same level as that obtained using conventional heat-drying technologies without requiring a high temperature heat source. The dewatered sludge is modified at room temperature with commonly used chemicals and physically compressed at temperatures below 90ºC. Due to most of the water in the sludge being removed in liquid form, this technology is superior in terms of energy saving compared to heat-drying technology that evaporates water in the sludge. In addition, by applying this technology, the product can also be used as a fertilizer, and the growth and yield of the crop were higher compared to the case where conventional sludge fertilizer was used. Since small and medium-sized sewage treatment plants are facing severe financial difficulties, low lifecycle costs (LCC) are required at the time of the installation and replacement of facilities. This technology has a lower LCC than conventional sludge fertilizer technology due to the implementation of a new energy-efficient approach, which makes small and medium-sized sewage treatment plants cost competitive.

• Sewage Sludge
• Energy Saving
• Fertilizer

Almost 50 years have passed since many factories were built during Japan's high growth period. Now there are concerns that corrosion is affecting the metal pipes used in those factories due to the fact that the factories were built in coastal areas and a long time has elapsed since their construction. Kubota ChemiX is entering the factory pipeline market with its polyethylene pipes and fittings that are easier to install and have anti-corrosion properties. However, the currently used flange has metal components that make it vulnerable to corrosion. This report describes the development process for an allplastic flange which is easier to install and is corrosion resistant.

• Pressured Pipeline
• Flange
• Fiber-reinforced Resin
• Corrosion