Whether you're visiting the Christmas market with friends or enjoying Christmas dinner with family, a good mulled or special wine is a must. To offer people this, winemakers must increasingly rely on automation during the grape harvest. However, slopes with a gradient of 75% and narrow rows of vines were previously considered impossible to automate. The German company CH engineering GmbH has developed a particularly compact harvesting vehicle for precisely this area of application. 

The base of the harvester from the Mosel is the UT110evo tracked vehicle. With a width of 1.32m, a length of 3.2m and a weight of 2.7t, it is light and compact enough to be transported on a tractor trailer. This means that it can also be used in vineyards with narrow access roads. After arriving at the destination, a ramp on the side of the trailer folds out and the vehicle drives over it into the row of vines. A cable winch connects the vehicle with the trailer and supports it with a tensile strength of 1.5t, enabling it to handle gradients of up to 75%. In these extreme locations, drivers can align the angle of their seats with the horizon to reduce the strain on the body.

One of the engineers' key achievements was the development of a vehicle that can withstand the harsh conditions of the vineyard for a long time while minimising maintenance work for winemakers. The key to success: a carefully considered choice of components. Among other things, the engineers opted for an energy chain made of high-performance plastic from igus to guide the hydraulic and electric cables from the vehicle to the harvesting head. The e-chains not only prevent the cables from kinking and jamming, but eliminate the risk of them becoming entangled in the vines as well.

"They also help increase the longevity of the machine," says Jörg Ottersbach, Head- echains, igus. "Our energy chains are made of durable high-performance plastic that is corrosion-free and resistant to UV radiation and chemicals. This means they retain their mechanical specifications for years without the need for maintenance." The engineers have also replaced classic metal rolling bearings with plastic ones. In the past, the ball bearings were so badly damaged by the grape must that, despite daily lubrication, they only lasted one season and then had to be replaced. 

Another component of the solution is the Steep Slope Harvester CH 500, an attachment that can be connected to the front loading area of the tracked vehicle in 30 minutes using six bolts. It looks a bit like an oversized nutcracker: two movable arms, connected at the top of the machine, embrace the vine. The insides of these arms contain shaking rods that make the vine vibrate at up to 620 movements per minute and shake off the grapes. A collection system under the beater catches the grapes and transports them to a collection container via a conveyor system. The harvesting machine travels down the vineyard at speeds of up to 4.5km/h - significantly faster than any human harvester. On the way back, it even reaches speeds of up to 9km/h, supported by the cable winch. Back on the trailer, employees then empty the container and position the vehicle for the next row of vines until the entire harvest has been brought in.