Trioliet is the biggest and most specialised vertical feed mixer company in the world. They do not focus on anything else. The Trioliet factory is in the Netherlands and is 70 years old. They have a team of 35 engineers and designers who are constantly working on and delivering new ideas and improvements to feed mixers and they produce 2500 to 3000 machines a year, all made to the customer’s specifications.
A feed mixer is a big investment, so when purchasing one you need to consider every angle – how long will it last? Will it be affected by the environment? Do your farm and feed require a certain feature? This blog aims to compare the features of Trioliet mixers with those of their competitors, and hopefully convince you to choose Trioliet.
Auger Knives
Competition: Straight knives mounted with 3 bolts at an angle. This angle causes bowing which leads to the knives breaking more easily.
Trioliet: Use a specially-shaped Trioform knife. There are only 2 bolts and no supporting plate is required. The knives are attached flat so bowing is completely avoided.
Mixer Style
Competition: Most competitors make vertical and horizontal mixers. Horizontal mixers are a problem for cutting hay bales and other dry material – they take longer than vertical mixers and they damage the hay because the mixing is very intensive. The walls of these mixers also undergo high wear (this problem is also faced by paddle mixers). Transport is only in one direction and so bales are not efficiently pulled apart.
Trioliet: All mixers are vertical. This avoids the high wear and damage caused by horizontal mixers. Vertical mixers allow transport of material in both directions, ensuring bales are effectively pulled apart. The motion in 2 directions is also enhanced in a big way by the asymmetrical inserts – see point 3. below.
Inserts
Competition: Simple triangular inserts which allow separate mixing on each auger. There is no horizontal transport.
Trioliet: Trioliet mixers contain European Patented Asymmetrical Inserts. This enables the transport of feed vertically and horizontally between the 2 augers. This exchange between augers is important for homogeneity and transport of feed from back to front for discharge. Trioliet mixers were tested in Germany in 2013 by the German Agricultural Society (DLG) and compared to all the other top feed mixer brands. In this test, the Trioliet mixer took 3 minutes to mix to 95% accuracy – the fastest machine to mix to this accuracy.
Construction
Competition: The chassis on competitor machines is separate from the mixing tub bottom. This means that there is movement on the mixing tub – forces are absorbed by the weigh bars orthe mixing tub, which increases the chance of damage to whichever part is taking the force. Some competitors will have additional steel strips attached to the bottom plate to alleviate this force.
Trioliet: On Trioliet mixers, the chassis is welded to the bottom of the mixing tub – they have an integrated chassis. This means that the load is shared between the chassis, the tub and the weigh bars (see more in point 5.) This means there is less chance of failure or damage to the weigh bars and the tub. This very solid construction allows breaking and mixing even of frozen hay bales!
Weigh Bars
Competition: Competitor machines have 4 weigh bars.
Trioliet: Trioliet machines have 3 weigh bars. The 3-point weighing system is more accurate because the force is more evenly distributed over 3 bars than it would be over 4.
Auger Column
Competition: In competitor machines, the auger column is commonly welded to the planetary gear box which is bolted to the bottom plate, which means that the auger column takes all of the force and is likely to break sooner.
Trioliet: In Trioliet machines, the auger column is welded directly to the bottom plate, with the chassis beams loaded very close to this. So, the mixing tub, chassis and column are all one solid part, which means there is very good load spreading – no single component takes all the force which is a unique aspect of the Trioliet mixers.
The auger body is also very slender allowing the auger flighting to be as wide as possible = bigger surface area = better mixing.
Drive Line
Competition: Connections between shafts in competitor machines are angled so that as power is increased, there is a greater force on the drive shaft, leading to earlier failure.
Trioliet: Trioliet mixers have fewer shafts than competitors, which means fewer connections, and they also have no angles which means the lifetime of the drive shaft is longer. A reduction gear box can be attached at the front of the machine completely in line with the entire drive line, so that the drive line is always straight.
Wear ring
Trioliet: Wear in a mixer is highest at the lowest part of the mixing tub because the discharge wing comes very close to the bottom edges. So, Trioliet mixers have an extra thick wear ring around the bottom of the mixing tub: 12mm thick compared to 8mm thick around the rest of the tub.
Extension rings
Competition: Competitors use extension rings, but the augers do not change. So when the machine is new, the augers are often too high (higher than the tub), but as extension rings are added, they become too short.
Trioliet: Trioliet mixers do not use extension rings. Trioliet sells separate tub sizes with the correct augers. This is a logistical challenge but gives much better mixing. Machines can be tailored to specific customer requirements.
Dispenser wing
Competition: Most competitor mixers only have 1 dispenser wing.
Trioliet: Trioliet mixers have 2 dispenser wings which means that they push out double the amount of feed in one rotation than if they only had 1. With 2 side doors on the mixer you will get a very even discharge.
Auger wings
Trioliet: Unique to Trioliet are the twin stream auger wings, mainly used for discharging. The flighting is 15mm thick and the wings are 18mm thick, but for farms with intense mixing or to ensure a long lifetime, one can get 22mm thick flighting and 25mm thick wings (this is the more popular option). The augers can have extra stainless steel wear plates welded onto them to further increase lifetime – this option is used a lot in biogas plant application because the gas is corrosive. The plates can be welded on after some time, when they are required.
Mix Waste
Competition: Most competitor mixers will leave 300 to 400 kgs of mix stuck at the bottom after feeding.
Trioliet: Trioliet mixers can shift augers to spin at 1000 RPM at the end of mixing. This means the mixer will be empty almost all of the feed, with an average of only 7kgs being left at the bottom.
Mixer Lifetimes
Trioliet: The lifetime of a mixer will depend on the climate, what you are mixing and how often you mix. In the Netherlands and similar European countries, typically 2 loads a day are mixed of wet silage to feed 100 to 500 cows. Mixers in this environment typically last 10 to 15 years. In somewhere like the U.S.A. an average dairy might be feeding 3000 to 4000 cows, mixing 6 to 10 loads a day and thus resulting in a lifetime of about 4 to 6 years. In Southern Africa, silage and hay are drier and will contain more sand, and one will be mixing for 500 to 1000 cows, thus you can expect the mixer to last about 8 to 10 years.
Adaptability
Trioliet: It is possible to purchase a reduction gearbox to place at the front of your Trioliet mixer, allowing you to use the mixer with a lower horse power tractor. The reduction gear box is always in line with the drive line, and can range from 102HP to 60HP (margin for error 64/70HP).
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