A New Zealand-designed frost fighting machine that looks like a giant hair dryer could become hot property in France.
Frost fighting machine: Heat Ranger. Photo: Heat Ranger
Hamilton engineer Fred Phillips, along with two colleagues, started working on the machine, called the Heat Ranger ten years ago.
It is a five-metre tall machine that heats up to between 300 and 600 degrees Celsius, and pushes out air that is 35 degrees C, protecting 15 hectares of grape vines.
In 2020 one machine was used in Blenheim and one in France.
Both perfomed well according to Phillips, but it has been the French industry which is getting on board.
Four machines, using Italian componentry, were built between sites in Hamilton and Christchurch and in November 2021 they were shipped to Bordeaux, France, and used during their winter - January to April 2022.
He said they generated a huge amount of interest because the region has not traditionally had frosts, but in the past five or six years has been getting them every second year - "something which is now being connected to climate change."
"A dramatic change to the risk profile of growing a high value crop," he said.
One client bought three Heat Rangers for this past winter after losing 75-percent of their grapes the season before.
"They had a frost in April that they used the machine for and they were able to cover their crop, and they didn't lose any crop at all. It's created a lot of interest. Primarily from Bordeaux, and in other parts of France, and in the Cognac area which is colder than Bordeaux," he said.
French growers have been following New Zealand frost fighting practises closely and have put in big tower fans, but Phillips said they cover a limited area and are very noisey.
Phillips said the Heat Ranger provided protection whether there was a temperature inversion layer present or not, and it's quiet.
At 300 metres away it could hardly be heard, he said.
The developers hope to manufacture between five and ten frost machines this year, they are finalising sales orders now.
"We're excited by it.
"We are limited in how many we can produce in any one season because the lead time with shipping and other issues around freight means that we have to import a number of our components from Italy, incorporate them into the machine, and then send them back again," he said grinning.
Decisions around scaling up production will be made after this next manufacturing round.
Phillips said despite working well in Blenheim it had been hard to get larger vineyard operators interested.
"They tend to stick to what they know, and the smaller ones can't afford our machine," he said.