Photo: Joe Spencer
Local company Shaydan specialises in safety aids to protect working vehicles and their operators. Their latest product is aimed at the forestry industry, where tractors often operate on hazardous sloping terrain.
It comprises an inclinometer linked to a visual display and an alarm, and is designed to warn the operator before the tractor reaches a dangerous angle of inclination.
“Our client required an inclinometer that could operate effectively in forestry in rough
terrain,” explains Mervin Smart, who heads up the company’s technical team.
“Their previous systems gave numerous false alarms, and they were looking for
one that would eliminate errors in judgement when working on slopes. The system had to assist in evaluating terrain limitations and eliminate the risk of a roll-over.”
Time spent on site established that the frequent false alarms made the operators lose confidence in the systems then in use.
The Shaydan inclinometer can be set to the client’s predetermined slope limitation for a particular operation, and this setting can be adjusted on site.
The inclinometer incorporates micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology. This consists of two plate electrodes arranged in parallel with a dielectric in the middle. When the sensor is inclined, the dielectric moves, changing the capacitance ratio between the electrodes.
This change is evaluated and used to generate a corresponding output signal. The sensor can detect any angular value on either axis.
Remote monitoring
The system incorporates a red-orange-green visual display as well as an audio alarm. If the
set maximum slope is exceeded on either axis, it transmits an SMS signal to a supervisor and central control PC for logging.
This allows for post-event evaluation to highlight any unsafe operating practices.
Joe Spencer is the mechanisation editor of Farmer’s Weekly.
