Mulching maschines: Perfect mulch

High impact forces, strong bearings

The MU-Pro Vario mulching machine by Müthing has been designed for up to 220 hp of pure drive power. This is the engine output that can be utilised at the propeller shaft on the respective working width. This already provides an indication of the rate of output that the large installed LFD ball bearings must absorb at the rotor shaft.

Reliable capacity

Because it is a rotating pruning hammer tool, merely the considerable impact forces lead to an additional high load characteristic of LFD bearings and the machine.

The correct selection of bearing material determines the reliability and the capacity of a bearing in operation. An important characteristic for the selection of bearing material is the hardenability of the rings and rolling elements, as this is a very important factor for the loading capacity and fatigue strength of a bearing.

Loadable bevel gear system

An oil-filled bevel gear system is positioned on top of the housing, which docks directly to the propeller shaft of the tractor. Such drives are low-loss and are most likely to provide the driver with information whether a tractor is about to reach the performance limit.

Cornfields are renowned as a tough challenge for mulching machines.

Traditional wear parts in this permanent application would initially be the pruning hammers, however in a cornfield these have a reliable operating time of 100 - 150 working hours. This translates to a reliable operating area of approx. 300 hectares with a mulching machine with a width of 3 metres and perfect mulch can be achieved on the cultivated area in only a single pass.

Special labyrinth seal

The Müthing-Starinth roll bearing, installed in the larger model lines, is comprised of a labyrinth seal and two taper roller bearings. In this manner, the bearings are kept clean as a result of the lubricating action.

LFD guarantees bearings with a consistent high quality with its own automated production lines. For verification, optimization and new developments, the LFD Group has equipped its own development laboratory with the latest measurement technology of renowned manufacturers and has installed heavy-duty service life test benches at the Dortmund location.

Considerable cutting Speed

The mulching machine works with heavy pruning hammers, which are self-sharpening due to their geometry. Especially hardened steel has been used, which has the necessary toughness to prevent cracking in the event of the impact with rocks.

The holders of the flails are arranged tangentially to the rotor shaft, ensuring that no frontal contact occurs with foreign bodies, but instead an easy lifting of the rotor is facilitated. As a result, the impact force is divided into two components; one is the remaining impact force, the other is the component that is deflected.

A comb bar installed in the housing allows all material to easily pass, which has already been sufficiently broken up. In contrast, the patented so-called “Müthing shark fin” ensures that material, which is still too long-fibred for a rapid decay, will be fed to the rotor once again in a second step and will be broken up further.

Each of the pruning hammers has an own weight of 1.1 kg and impacts with a considerable cutting speed of 55 m/sec on the material to be processed.