Patent Application
20230059955
Combine harvesters typically have many v-belt drives to transfer power from the engine to various components on the harvester. The most demanding drive may be the residue management driveline due to its requirement to process crop residue that may easily be threshed but is not yet fully dry or fit for processing. The residue management system driveline typically is driven from the main engine gearcase and can take over 50% of the engine's power capacity. The main engine gearcase typically has a single power takeoff sheave that provides drive to the residue management system.
In recent years the combine's engine capacities have increased significantly, with some machines now fitted with 790 HP engines. With larger engines the loads for processing crop residue have increased significantly. Typically, the combine's residue management systems include a straw chopper and may include a powered tailboard for spreading residue in inclement conditions. Most recently weed seed destruction systems have been added to the residue management systems, increasing the power transfer requirement of the residue management drivelines by another 30%.
Combine harvester drivelines have been designed for specific loads and are typically optimized to the worst cases recorded during the combine's development. The belts, sheaves and bearings in these harvesters are designed for a certain life at the worst-case load duty cycles. Bearings in the drive train are designed based on the belt loading due to tensioning, the over hung load and belt power transmitted during operation. In lower yielding crop areas of the world, aftermarket designers are able to utilize the extra capacity in the drives due to lower crop yields and thus lower system loads. However, when adding components in high yielding, tough crop conditions that additional capacity is not available and significant cost is incurred to redesign and increase the capacity of the drives.
Typically, the drives found in combine harvesters utilize banded v-belts as this simple v-belt provides protection against high spike loads that are typical in harvesters, and works very well in the dirty conditions found in field operation. Engineers skilled in power transmission design typically increase the number of ribs on a belt, increase the sheave diameter, or increase cross sectional area of the v-belt to reduce belt loads or increase the life of a belt. This often has a ripple effect as the increased size and weight of the sheaves increases the overhung load on the bearings, requiring increased bearings and with larger cross-sectional belt profiles more heat is generated in belt flex, reducing belt life and performance.
There are 2 major categories of belts: v-belts and synchronous or timing belts. V-belts transmit power by friction and utilize the wedge principle to increase sidewall pressure and frictional force. Synchronous or timing belts transmit power by direct engagement of belt teeth with a sprocket.
Synchronous belts are the most efficient belt available and the most power dense belt (meaning the cord density is arranged as tightly as possible), however they do not work well with misaligned sheaves, debris or shock loads. These belts cannot slip to protect the drive or the object they are powering and can only be designed with a fixed or locked center. Synchronous belts are typically chosen if shafts must be synchronized, efficiency is extremely important, or the power is so high in limited space that a v-belt cannot transfer the load.
V-belts on the other hand operate well in misaligned conditions, are more forgiving to debris, and are good at slipping to protect drives that operate with large shock loads, such as straw choppers. They can be used with a spring-loaded constant tension idler and run relatively quietly. They, however, do not have good cord or power density and operate at lower efficiency than a synchronous belt.
V-belts are further classified into single v-belts, banded v-belts and v-rib belts. Single v-belts are very robust and are used in many applications due to their lower cost. Banded v-belts prevent rollover from vibration, are easier to install than multiple singles, and are best at controlling belt deflection and remaining in sheave grooves on drives with high spike loads.
Due to operating limitations on all other belt types and profiles the banded v-belt is used on all combine harvesters today. It is the only type of belt used on demanding residue management systems.
V rib belts are manufactured by initially assembling the cords in the required pattern which are then wrapped around a spool to be held in place. The filler material typically some type of rubber is then it is poured to form a cast band having a full thickness of the band up to the top of the intended ribs. The ribs may be formed by the profiles of the spools or the cast band can be machined to grind the V grooves between the ribs to form the ribs. The machining is carried out down to the base of the grooves spaced from a rear face of the cast band leaving a base band portion connecting the ribs together
According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a combine harvester comprising:
a separation system for separating material from harvested crop including a first material comprising straw and a second material comprising chaff;
a mechanical drive output shaft having an output pulley thereon;
a weed seed destructor section for receiving at least some of the material from the separating device;
the weed seed destructor section having at least one input drive shaft having an input pulley thereon
a mechanical drive transfer arrangement connecting the input drive pulley to the mechanical drive output pulley;
the mechanical drive transfer arrangement including at least one continuous drive belt;
wherein said at least one continuous drive belt includes across its width a plurality of longitudinally extending v-belt ribs;
wherein said at least one continuous drive belt includes one or more cords forming longitudinally extending cord lengths which extend continuously along the continuous drive belt;
and wherein the longitudinally extending cord lengths are located at uniformly spaced positions across the width of the belt.
In some cases the cords can be formed as individual cords each defining one cord length wrapped wholly around the belt in one continuous loop. In other cases the belts have only one cord wrapped continuously in a helical wrap so that the single cord forms all of the cord lengths. The helical wrap is applied at a pitch so as to place the cord lengths in the backing at a uniform pitch across the width of the belt. Thus the one cord is wound around the belt. Other belts have one cord per rib (because the cord is in the rib) and thus a 3 rib belt has 3 cords. The helical wrapping provides an efficiency and extra load carrying capacity which comes from the fact that engineers discount one half of the wrap on each side. Only once the cord has been wrapped around the belt one half of the circumference will it start to pull load.
In a second aspect, the v-belt ribs are integral at a base with a base band of the belt extending across the full width of the belt with each rib having two side walls converging from the base to a top wall spaced from the base band where all of the reinforcing cords are arranged in a single row across the base band.
In a third aspect, the v-belt ribs are cut to a base band of the belt extending across the full width of the belt with each rib having two side walls converging from the base to a top wall spaced from the base band where all of the reinforcing cords are arranged in a single row across the base band.
According to a further aspect of the invention there is provided a method of driving components of a combine harvester where the combine harvester comprises:
That is the present arrangement provides a construction of belt to carry the whole of the power required by the straw spreader or chopper and by the weed seed destructor where the belt to mount on an output pulley which can have a width closely matching or not significantly greater than that of the original pulley designed to carry much lower power.
In one preferred drive arrangement, the input pulley of the destructor rotor is driven by a belt from the input drive shaft of the straw management section preferably by a pulley at an end of the input drive shaft of the straw management section opposite to said input drive pulley thereof.
Preferably the belt has more than four and more preferably six v-belt ribs at spaced positions across its width.
Preferably the belt has a width of less than 3.0 inches and preferably less than 2.5 inches and preferably less than 2.3 inches.
Preferably the belt has a depth of less than 0.5 inches and preferably less than 0.4 inches and preferably of the order of 0.35 inches.
There are 8 different standard cross sections that are utilized worldwide. V-rib belts are not as common but are used in high power capacity requirements. Limitations include less misalignment and they require a cleaner environment than standard v-belts. V-rib belts are not as sensitive as synchronous belts, however they are much quieter, can carry the same loads, are infinitely adjustable in length, can maintain a slip functionality to protect the drive in a spike load situation and can be used with a constant tension idler. Advantages of a constant tension drive include ease of installation and tensioning, higher bearing life with reduced loads due to a reduced duty cycle, run quieter and provide belt slip.
The cords in the belt are the components that transfer power between the sheaves of the belt drive. The rubber surrounding the belt's cord serve to transfer the load from the cords to the sheaves. The larger the belt section, the larger the available space for the cords and the larger the rubbers surface area on the sheave to transmit the power from the cords to the sheave.
Increased loads are driving designers to larger v-belt profiles in order to carry enough cords to transmit the required amount of power, however the larger the v-belt profile the more heat is generated by the belt in bending.
In banded v-belts the cords are only carried in the individual belt profile, therefor a banded belt, that is best utilized for spike loads typical in residue management systems, are not optimized as they do not have cords positioned uniformly across the width of the banded belt.
Increase load capacity caused by the added weed seed destruction function has not been designed in residue management system drives; therefore additional space typically must be taken to expand drive capacity. Combine harvesters are very complex and have many optional pieces of equipment. Drivelines have limited space and may not have the space to expand the number of belt ribs or to increase sheave diameters. Thus, expansion of the belt profile or number of belt ribs often affects sheave size adding weight and increasing the overhung load requiring increased bearings and or structural change to the harvester.
The arrangement of the present invention may provide one or more of the following features and advantages:
Provide additional power transmission capacity to the straw chopper rotor, with a belt in which the cords are positioned uniformly across the width of the belt so that additional drives can be provided through the chopper rotor and from the opposite side of the chopper rotor.
According to a further independent feature of the invention there is provided a combine harvester comprising:
a separation system for separating material from harvested crop including a first material comprising straw and a second material comprising chaff;
a mechanical drive output shaft having an output pulley thereon;
a straw management section for receiving the first material;
a seed destructor section for receiving the second material;
a first mechanical drive transfer arrangement connecting the mechanical drive output pulley to the straw management section to provide drive thereto;
the mechanical drive transfer arrangement including at least one drive belt arranged at a first side of the combine harvester;
wherein the seed destructor section is driven by a second mechanical drive transfer arrangement on a second side of the combine harvester opposite the first side.
Preferably the straw management section includes a shaft to transfer drive from the first side to the second side.
Preferably the straw management section comprises a straw chopper and wherein the shaft to transfer drive from the first side to the second side drives a rotor of the straw chopper.
This arrangement provides an improved drive construction which may provide advantages of reduced loads on the pulleys and belt.
It will be appreciated that the novel features herein relate to the construction of the straw management system and the weed seed destructor system and particularly the drive arrangements thereto. These features are expressed above as part of a combine harvester. However the construction may be supplied as a separate apparatus for mounting on a combine harvester so that the invention resides in the components themselves independently of the combine harvester.
One embodiment of the invention will now be described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
In the drawings like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different figures.
The combination of straw management system and weed seed destruction system is shown generally in for example U.S. Pat. No. 10,495,369 issued Dec. 3 2019, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, to which reference may be made for further detail of features described only generally herein.
The apparatus herein is conventionally mounted on a combine harvester 1 carried on ground wheels 3 and including harvesting components of a conventional nature the rearmost one of which is the sieve 2 which discharges chaff and discarded seeds including weed seeds to the rear edge 4 of the sieve.
The combine harvester includes a chopper and discharge arrangement 9 shown in
Within the housing is mounted a hub 17 which is carried on suitable bearings for rotation about a hub axis at a center of the housing so that blade members 19 carried by the hub sweep around within the housing to entrap straw fed through the inlet and to carry the straw and air past stationary blades for chopping and for discharge through the outlet 16. The stationary blades are mounted on the housing at a position approximately midway between the inlet and the outlet so that the blade members 19 sweep between the stationary blades in a cutting action.
The above arrangement of straw chopper section is one example only of arrangements which can be used herein. The chopper and spreading assembly 9 is arranged to be mounted at a rear straw discharge 5 of the combine harvester 1 and includes the housing 10, the rotor 17 mounted in the housing 10 for rotation around a generally horizontal axis and carrying the plurality of chopper blades 19 for chopping the discharge material.
At the exit 16 is provided the material spreading assembly which can be the form of a tailboard 16A with guide fins 16B for receiving the chopped material and spreading the material to the rear and sides of the combine harvester.
An apparatus 35 for destroying seeds comprises a body carried on a frame mounted at a suitable location on the combine harvester by mounting arrangements of a conventional arrangement. In the embodiment shown the destructor is mounted as a common unit on the frame of the chopper so as to be carried thereby on the hood at the straw exit. However these can be provided as separate units where for example the destructor is mounted at the rear axle and the chopper is mounted on the hood
The body provides two side by side housings 38, 39 each located adjacent a respected half of the discharge location the feed material containing separated chaff and discarded seeds separated by the combine harvester from harvested crop.
Each of the housings includes rotor and stator arranged to cause impacts on the weed seeds which devitalize the seeds as is well known.
A rotor is mounted in the housing for rotation about an upstanding axis at right angles to a bottom base of the housing. The rotor includes a cylindrical hub carrying blades. The individual blades of the set are spaced angularly.
Thus the rotor includes components thereon for engaging the feed material and for accelerating the feed material in a centrifugal direction away from the rotor.
In the housing around the rotor is provided a stator 48 which includes a series of surface elements for engaging the discarded seeds in the accelerated material and arranged such that the discarded seeds impact thereon and rebound therefrom back toward the rotor. Various designs of rotor and stator are known and can be used.
Thus the rotor and stator are arranged such that the discarded seeds rebound back and forth between the rotor and the stator to provide a plurality of impacts on the feed material to devitalize the seeds.
In a preferred arrangement, the seed destructor section 35 is integrated into the chopper 9 as a common unit with the chopper 9. In this arrangement the seed destruction section 35 acts two receive all residue from the sieves. The weed seeds are destroyed in the seed destructor and can be ejected into the chopper for spread with the straw residue on the tailboard 16A.
Thus the destruction section 36 and the chopper 9 form a common unit which can be supplied as a common assembly for attachment to the combine harvester. The common unit may include a common frame. The common unit can include a common drive arrangement by which a single output drive from the combine harvester is directed to the common unit and then directed by the drive mechanism to the chopper rotor and to the seed destruction section.
Thus the combined apparatus comprises the straw chopper 9 as described above together with the apparatus for destroying weed seeds as described above where the discharge opening of the housing is arranged such that the discharge opening can be directed to the side of the combine away from the straw chopper, towards the guide fins of the tailboard of the chopper, or into the housing of the straw chopper.
The housing of the chopper section 9 and the seed destructor section 35 are formed as a common or integral construction coupled together as single or common unit which can be mounted on the combine harvester at the rear of the combine so as to be associated with the rear straw discharge and the rear chaff discharge.
The chopper 9 has an input drive pulley 40 connected to the rotor 17 driven by a belt 41 from the combine. In the arrangement shown in
The drive system includes at least one belt 41 or 48 or both which must carry the power for both the chopper and the destructor. In this embodiment both the belts 48 and 41 transfer the power to both components and must therefore be able to transfer the power requirements and provide the features discussed above.
While the arrangement shown herein is shown as an externally mounted chopper carried on the combine harvester at the rear straw discharge, some combines include an internal chopper mounted in the housing at a position in advance of the rear discharge. In this arrangement the seed destructor section can be located at the chaff discharge and arranged to direct material into the internal chopper or away from the internal chopper to the ground. In this case the internal chopper does not cooperate directly with a spreading system such as a tail board.
The rotational speed of the rotor of the seed destructor 35 can be adjustable to change the number of impacts a seed encounters during its passage.
When the system is arranged to bypass the destructor, a clutch 52 is operated to halt drive to the rotors of the weed seed destructor 35 from the input drive belt 45 and pulley 42.
The speed of the chopper rotor 17 is adjustable to slow and high speed by selecting larger and smaller pulley sections 401, 402 at the pulley 40 to receive the belt 41 and corresponding smaller and larger pulley sections 501, 502 at the pulley 50. The drive for the weed seed destruction section is driven from the slow-speed drive of the chopper. Therefore, the chopper can be selected to operate in low speed with the weed seed destruction section still operating. Therefore, either chopper speed can be selected without affecting the operation of the weed seed destruction section.
The belts 48, 41 and 45 are all tensioned by conventional idler rollers 53, 54 and 55 mounted on suitable tensioning systems as is well known.
In one arrangement (not shown) the drive belt 41 from the jack shaft 49 to the chopper rotor shaft 17 also acts to provide drive to the destructor input shaft 44. In the Figures as shown, an arrangement is provided where the belt 41 only drives the chopper rotor shaft 17 and the drive to the destructor rotor shaft 44 is proved by a separate belt 45 at the opposite end of the shaft 17. In both cases full power to both the chopper and the destructor is provided through the belts 41 and 48.
The arrangement described herein therefore provides a combine harvester 1 comprising the separation system 2 for separating from harvested crop a first material comprising straw and a second material comprising chaff. The combine harvester includes a mechanical drive output shaft 46 having an output pulley 47 thereon.
The straw management section for receiving the first material in this embodiment includes the chopper 9 and the tailboard 16A. However other arrangements can be used including an internal chopper and a driven disk type spreader.
The straw management section has the input drive shaft 17 with the input pulley 40 thereon and a mechanical drive transfer arrangement connects the input drive pulley 44 to the mechanical drive output pulley 47. The mechanical drive transfer arrangement includes the drive belt 41 which transfers the required power.
In
As shown in
In
The belt includes longitudinally extending reinforcing cord lengths 77 located again at spaced positions across the width of the belt. However in this embodiment all of the reinforcing cords are arranged in a single row across and within the base band 78 so that the. longitudinally extending reinforcing cords located are at uniformly spaced positions across the width of the belt. Thus the cords are closer to the rear face 76 and have a distance of a center of the cord from the rear face of the order of 0.1 inch. The cord lengths 77 can be formed from separate cords each forming one wrapping of turn along the belt. However more preferably the cord lengths form portions of a single cord wrapped helically and continually around the belt over the number of turns necessary to form the full number of cord lengths.
In the arrangement of the present invention, the combine harvester is modified to accommodate the high increased power required by the destructor section by removing the original output pulley shown in
This is carried out without significantly increasing the width of the drive pulley 47A so that the belt 48 has a width of less than 3.0 inches and preferably less than 2.5 inches and preferably less than 2.3 inches.
Thus
Thus due to these changes, the replacement belt can transmit up to 50% more power through a belt of the same width more efficiently and with less heat. This allows the drive system to be easily and quickly replaced so as to adapt the combine to accommodate the destructor system in combination with the straw management system by only changing the sheaves and belts.
The use of conventional belts requires a redesign of the whole drive system by widening structures, building heaver sheaves, adding wider idler pulleys, all while creating more overhung load which can act to overload bearings.
The pulleys 47A and its replacement 47B both include supplementary sheaves 471 and 472 which are associated with driving other components and are not related to the present invention and the improved belt of
In
The pulley 47X in this embodiment includes two drive pulley sections 47C and 47D having a width matching the pulley section 47B of the previous embodiment. Again this matches the width of the pulley 47A for driving the conventional belt used in the prior art to drive the chopper alone. These two sections 47C and 47D drive two belts in parallel and side by side as indicated at 81 and 82.
The belts 81 and 82 are of the construction previously described in relation to
The belt 81 drives the pulley 52A and is guided on one run by idler pulley 83 and on the return run by idler pulleys 84 and 85.
The belt 82 drives the pulley 40A and on one run passes directly to the pulley and on the return run is guided by idler pulley 86.
The power from the drive shaft 46 and its pulley 47X thus passes through the at least one belt to the chopper shaft and to the weed seed destructor and in this case the at least one drive belt is formed by two side by side belts 81 and 82.
This arrangement this provides 2 belts in parallel running in the same space as a previous single chopper belt powering only a chopper.
In thus embodiment, using the parallel drive arrangement from a common jackshaft of the combine the system is able to replace 1 old style belt of
Since various modifications can be made in my invention as herein above described, and many apparently widely different embodiments of same made within the spirit and scope of the claims without department from such spirit and scope, it is intended that all matter contained in the accompanying specification shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense.
This application is a continuation in part application of application Ser. No. 17/386,885 filed Jul. 28 2021 currently pending. This application claims he benefit under 35 USC 119 (e) of Provisional application 63/065,609 filed Aug. 14 2020, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. This invention relates to a weed seed destructor which can be attached to a combine harvester so that weed seeds in the discharged chaff can be devitalized before being spread onto the ground and particularly to a drive arrangement which provides a mechanical drive from a power take off shaft of the combine harvester to the destructor.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63065609 | Aug 2020 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 17386885 | Jul 2021 | US |
| Child | 17968914 | US |
