KUBOTA TECHNICAL REPORT No.57 JANUARY 2025

In recent years, the farm and industrial machinery consolidated department has aimed to expand our product lineup for farming tractors in Europe and the high-speed utility vehicle (UV) market in North America. It is difficult to ensure the durability of the body. Because the tractors can be used for various highload operations in farming, the load of the UV is unclear when driving on rough roads. In the past, products were developed by repeating a design based on experience and durability tests on actual machines, but this experience may not apply for new markets. Additionally, our previous analysis method needs the load condition, calculated by using actual measurement, so its measurement needs a lot of time and we cannot determine the optimal design. Therefore, we have developed an analysis method that can calculate the load which is applied to the vehicle, and consider the improvement of durability by performing virtual work on a simulation.

• Tractor
• Electric Control
• Hydro Static Transmission

The level of automatic operation of agricultural machines is roughly divided into three levels: Level 1 is automatic steering with the user on board, Level 2 is automatic operation with the user off board and monitoring from a visible location, and Level 3 is automatic operation with remote monitoring1). The combine harvester, which is run while harvesting rice and wheat, has problems such as monitoring the surrounding area during operation, a high level of difficulty in operation, and continuity of operation. It was difficult to achieve Level 2, but advanced technology and control technology overcame these problems and succeeded in commercialization. This paper introduces the obstacle detection technology in the working environment and the technology to automate reaping work, as well as the technology to improve the efficiency of automatic operation work, which were developed to realize this automatic operation Level 2 combine.

• Combine Harvester
• Autonomous Driving
• Obstacle Detection
• 2D-LiDAR
• Millimeter-wave Radar

Development of the gasoline engine GZ850H for use in the Utility Vehicle RTV-XG850 enabled us to expand our business domain. This is Kubota’s first development of a high-speed gasoline engine. The air intake system was changed from the conventional model to achieve higher output and lower fuel consumption. Competitiveness was strengthened by improving engine stall resistance. In order to comply with exhaust gas regulations, a new test method using intake pressure control was established, and efforts were made to ensure quality by measuring exhaust gas on a nonconsolidated basis at the engine.

• GZ850H
• High-speed Gasoline Engine
• Increased Output
• Improved Fuel Consumption
• Emission Regulation

The after-treatment system of the V3, 08, and 09 series engines, covering an output range of 56-155 kW, has adopted “DOC+DPF/SCR” in compliance with the EPA/CARB Final Tier 4 emission regulations implemented in 2014. The degradation of the SCR catalyst directly affects exhaust gas performance. We conducted research on the optimal SCR catalyst for general-purpose engines and developed a new copperbased catalyst with high robustness against catalyst degradation. The development of the new catalyst required long-duration endurance testing for degradation evaluation, but we utilized a degradation prediction method. This allowed us to shorten the development time.

• SCR
• Copper Catalyst
• Exhaust Gas
• After-treatment
• Catalyst Degradation
• Degradation Prediction

While the mini excavator is highly evaluated for its wide working range, it is also required to work in a narrow space at the same time. In order to improve the narrow-space workability while maintaining the working range, a new working machine design method utilizing electronic control is necessary. However, regarding the angle detection of the working machine, the conditions near the bucket, such as breakage and submergence, are severe, and installation is difficult. In recent years, expensive detection methods that avoid environmental conditions near buckets have been adopted in ICT construction equipment. However, adoption is difficult for mini-excavators because of the large cost burden. This paper introduces the anti-interference control of the working machine to achieve the required narrow-field workability, and the method to realize bucket angle detection, which is key for control by the potentiometer.

• Mini Excavator
• Electric Joystick
• Potentiometer
• Electronic Control
• A333

Kubota's feeder business has secured a high share of the global market through cooperation with Kubota Brabender Technologie, which became a subsidiary of Kubota. In recent years, the need for continuous production has increased not only in the existing resin compound market, but also in new markets, making it essential to evolve with new markets in mind. Kubota developed a feeder controller that responds to new technologies such as DX, ahead of our competitors, and also responds to changes in the manufacturing site.

• Feeder Controller
• DX
• High Connectivity
• Auto Tuning
• Remote Maintenance

Because of visual sensory inspection for ductile iron pipe, we have the risks of inspection judgement variation by the inspectors and the overlooking of defects. To solve these problems, we have developed automatic inspection technology using image analysis by AI. With this technological development, we have achieved reliability improvements in inspection and labor saving for inspectors. In addition to the production line of iron pipe, we are going to promote technology expansion to the production line of synthetic pipe.

• Ductile Iron Pipe
• AI (Artificial Intelligence)
• Image Analysis
• Automatic Inspection

The “Kubota Gravity Belt Thickener” for wastewater treatment plants is low-cost, low-power, and easy to manage, and it has been widely adopted in domestic wastewater treatment plants, significantly contributing to energy savings and labor reduction. However, certain substances contained in some of the treatment targets can cause clogging on the stainless steel belt, leading to a decrease in concentration performance. To reduce the frequency of this clogging and minimize maintenance efforts, we have developed an automatic high-pressure cleaning device.

• Wastewater Sludge
• Gravity Belt Thickener
• Stainless Steel Belt
• Clogging
• High-pressure Cleaning

Membrane Bio-Reactor (MBR) is a wastewater treatment process which features superior effluent quality and a small footprint. Although it is a technology used for wastewater reuse due to its high solid-liquid separation performance, the reduction of energy and costs related to membrane scouring power is a challenge needing further discussion. In addition to hardware improvements, such as high integration of membrane modules and units, Kubota has developed a membrane scouring airflow control. This paper introduces our approach to membrane scouring airflow control using an automatically updated machine learning model that diagnoses membrane conditions. This developed system uses edge AI and can be easily introduced into existing systems, achieving more than 20% reduction in membrane scouring airflow compared to conventional models, with stable operating performance.

• MBR
• Energy Saving
• Machine Learning
• TMP Prediction
• Edge AI