In a move that benefits both parties, SGI Canada has donated a salvage combined harvester to Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s Agricultural Equipment Technician (AET) program.
It will be used by students learning about combine ingestion, and how foreign objects consumed by the heavy equipment can cause internal damage to the machinery. At the same time, any research findings on the subject by the polytechnic university will be used by SGI Canada’s agricultural equipment adjusters.
A release from Saskatchewan Polytechnic said that the applied research project will be overseen by AET program head Chris Thomson. To prepare for the project, the faculty documented existing damage to the donated salvaged combine. Five GoPro cameras were then strategically installed into the equipment, to monitor how foreign objects would behave when they find their way inside the combine.
Faculty also installed shielding into the donated combine, to keep the rotors separate.
“We wanted to isolate which items we sent through which rotor to determine the damage caused,” explained Thomson.
Thomson previously met with SGI Canada to demonstrate the combine. Items of various density and sizes such as tree branches, rocks, and even steel objects were fed into the machine, and the results were documented on video.
“The day went well, and we expect to see some good damage once it’s disassembled,” the program head commented.
Saskatchewan Polytechnic said that over the next few months, students will have the opportunity to disassemble the combine’s rotors to view the damage. The research’s results will return to SGI Canada to aid its adjusters.
“We plan to use the footage and documentation that Sask Polytech produces for training purposes, and to assist our agricultural equipment adjusters in assessing damage claims,” said SGI Canada farm segment director Blair McClinton. “The results of this research will have a practical application.”
