The Batchen Ranger is a hand held thermal weed control device. It is designed for individuals and organisations requiring an alternative or supplement to their current weed management programmes.

The Ranger can assist with a wide range of problems in disparate locations. It incorporates:

• a powerful and efficient burner able to operate for a reasonable duration before refuelling
  
• a burner configuration that allows rapid application
  
• a design that allows the operator to comfortably work in rough terrain

In addition the Ranger is a product that meets or exceeds regulatory and safety requirements.

Without being able to satisfy the need for a powerful burner able to operate for a reasonable duration between refills there would be no difference between our solution and many other products already on the market. Our ability to solve this technical problem gave us the confidence to develop the Batchen Ranger.

How did we solve this?

We supply the Batchen Ranger with liquid LP Gas rather than vapour. Using liquid LP Gas allows us to supply effortlessly the .08 kg per minute required when the main and booster burners are used together. Both burners together are rated at 257 megajoules (MJ) per hour. That is over twice the heat produced by a typical central heating system in a Melbourne home.

LP Gas consumption of this scale cannot be sustained using vapour withdrawal from a gas cylinder small enough to be carried with you for extended periods.

The Batchen Ranger is designed to utilise a small aluminium cylinder with a liquid gas capacity of 3kg. At ambient temperatures a cylinder of this size is incapable of absorbing enough heat to change the liquid gas to a vapour and maintain performance for more than a few minutes. The temperature of the liquid in the cylinder would quickly reduce to below 0 degrees Celsius causing ice to form on the cylinders and fittings progressively reducing flame size and compromising equipment and operator safety.

The benefit of this unique liquid withdrawal system is that users of the Ranger can work for up to half an hour using the main and booster burners and up to an hour if only the main burner is used before refilling.

To address the requirement for rapid application a dual burner system is used. The main burner (lower) is designed to provide a broad, paintbrush like, flame that will treat a larger surface than a more traditional conical flame. Flame velocity is reduced slightly to achieve this flame shape. The main burner alone is rated at 140 MJ per hour, about 54% of total consumption, and is appropriate for most vegetation control tasks.

To ensure there is ample burner capacity a second booster burner is incorporated in the Ranger. The booster burner operates at a higher velocity, which assists penetration into the densest vegetation. It can be activated as needed.

Because the Ranger is a hand held tool the need for operator safety is paramount. Where regulations and standards exist we meet or exceed them. Because the product is highly innovative it goes beyond the established standards for LP Gas appliances. Being part of Origin Energy provides us with ample resources to verify and prove our design prior to offering it to potential users.

Specific features incorporated in the design to address operator safety and welfare are:

• Ergonomic design that counter balances the burners with the LP Gas cylinder
  
• Use of an off the shelf harness system transfers the majority of the weight to the operator's shoulders
  
• Failsafe activation trigger, if the operating trigger is released the Ranger extinguishes within 10 seconds
  
• Stainless steel components are used in heat affected areas
  
• The liquid withdrawal valve and connecting hose differ from those used on barbeques and other vapour consuming LP Gas appliances
  
• Light weight aluminium LP Gas cylinder
  
• A comprehensive set of instructional material: Operating Instructions, Quick Reference, and instructional video