Patent Application
20180338427
This application claims priority to German Patent Application Ser. No. 102017208761.7, filed May 23, 2017, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The present disclosure relates to a deflector device for reducing material accumulations in a press, and particularly for a deflector device of an agricultural round baler.
Conventional or known deflector devices are used in presses in order to counteract an accumulation of material inside the press and consequently to prevent a clogging or a blockage of the press or individual or a plurality of operating means of the press. These presses are used both in the agricultural and in the industrial field. Corresponding agricultural presses serve, for example, to form crop bales such as in the case of round bales, and often produce at least substantially round cylindrical bales of harvested crop, for example, such as straw, hay, chopped material, etc. Industrial presses are used in the compression of waste, textiles or other materials or during the pressing thereof into bales.
Some deflector devices direct material away from specific regions or operating means such as, for example, pressing means in the manner of belts, rollers or drums in order to counteract accumulations of material. These deflector devices are generally constructed in the manner of rigid covers, which in particular under difficult harvesting conditions, such as, for example, dry crops, do not operate in an optimum manner.
Thus, there is a need for a deflector device for overcoming the limitations of conventional deflector devices noted above.
In a first embodiment of the present disclosure, a deflector device is provided for reducing material accumulations in a press which has at least one deflector constructed in an at least partially movable manner. The deflector may, for example, be moved by means of operation-related vibrations of the press brought about by means of a movement in particular of mechanical operating means or components of the press, such as a receiving device, which introduces material or harvested crops into a bale pressing space, or one or more pressing means which move(s) in order to produce a bale in the bale pressing space, or which occur when the press travels over a particularly uneven surface. The deflector may, for example, be constructed in such a manner that it vibrates, oscillates or also wobbles, whereby an accumulation or depositing or adhesion of material in close proximity of the deflector can be prevented or counteracted. In particular, the deflector may be constructed in a flexible manner, for example, so as to be inherently flexible.
The deflector may be provided so as to be able to be connected at one end by means of one or more retention means advantageously directly or indirectly to a frame of the press. At the other end, the deflector may be provided so as to be at least substantially freely movable or to extend away from the retention means or the frame. The deflector may thus extend, for example, at least in an idle state at least substantially vertically downwards, but it is also possible for it to define an angle with respect to the vertical.
It is particularly simple and cost-effective if the deflector is constructed in one piece. A single-piece construction may further improve the durability of the deflector. The deflector may also be constructed in the form of a lug so that it can protrude or be suspended substantially freely in the region of the press in which an accumulation of material is intended to be counteracted. However, it is also conceivable for the deflector to be constructed in several parts or for the deflector device to have a plurality of deflectors, for example, in order to thereby produce a movement pattern which deviates from a single-piece construction.
In another embodiment, the deflector(s) may be formed by one or more movable plate(s) or to have a plate. The one or more plates may be constructed in a rigid manner or from metal, hard plastics material or another rigid material. It is also possible, however, for the deflector to at least partially comprise a resilient or rubber-like material. The deflector can thus also be retained in a particularly simple manner by the retention means without an articulated connection being required for this purpose. An improved durability can be achieved when the material used has a textile carrier layer.
If the deflector forms at least in the end region thereof a loop, this may counteract fraying, in particular when a textile carrier material is used. As a result of such a loop, an accumulation or aggregation/depositing of material can also be further counteracted, in particular when this region achieves an action which is not only wobbling but also beating. It is also possible to provide at a region facing the retention means a loop which can optionally also be used as a securing possibility or for supporting a securing of the deflector to the frame.
The deflector device may be arranged so as to be adapted to the respective requirements. However, the deflector device may also be orientated at least substantially in a horizontal manner so that a free movement of the deflector(s) is possible to the greatest possible extent.
If a press is provided with one or more of the above-described deflector device(s), this may support the function of the press in that accumulations of material in the press or in one or more regions of the press can be reduced or prevented. In this manner, adhesions or deposits of material or occurrences of clogging of the press and consequently undesirable down-times of the press can be counteracted. Such a press generally has a housing and at least one pressing means which is arranged in the housing. The press may be an agricultural round baler for forming round cylindrical bales. However, the press may also be used in the industrial field, for example, in order to form bales from paper, waste, fabric or other materials.
The deflector device may be arranged in any region of the press in which accumulations of material may occur. However, in one example, it is possible to arrange at least one deflector device between the pressing means and the housing and adjacent or below a wrapping means supply device.
According to another embodiment of this disclosure, a method for operating a round baler is provided. Here, the deflector device during the production of a bale is influenced by vibrations which occur during operation of the press in such a manner that the deflector is caused to move, e.g., oscillate, vibrate or wobble, whereby the deflector can counteract an accumulation of material.
The above-mentioned aspects of the present disclosure and the manner of obtaining them will become more apparent and the disclosure itself will be better understood by reference to the following description of the embodiments of the disclosure, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Corresponding reference numerals are used to indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views.
The embodiments of the present disclosure described below are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed in the following detailed description. Rather, the embodiments are chosen and described so that others skilled in the art may appreciate and understand the principles and practices of the present disclosure.
In
According to the present embodiment, a drawbar 20 is provided on the front side of the frame 14 in order to be able to suspend the press 10 on a tractor which is not shown and to pull it across a field. A receiving device 22 in the form of a pick-up serves to receive harvested crop lying on the substrate 18, for example, hay or straw which has been deposited in a swath. The harvested crop received by the receiving device 22 is supplied to an inlet 24 of a bale pressing space 26 and is rolled at that location in a helical manner to form a round cylindrical bale, tied and subsequently placed on the substrate 18.
A lower, fixed roller 28 and two upper rollers 30, 32 are positioned at the inlet 24 of the bale pressing space 26. The bale pressing space 26 is further formed by means of a continuous pressing means 34 which is constructed according to the present embodiment in the form of two pressing belts which abut each other and which is guided around a number of fixed rollers 36, 38, 40, 42 and movable rollers 44, 42, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54, 56. The pressing means 34 has an outer side 34a facing the frame 14 and an inner side 34b.
While the bale pressing space 26 is surrounded at the peripheral side substantially by the pressing means 34 and the rollers 28, 30 and 32, it is laterally delimited by side walls which are not shown.
Four rollers 50, 52, 54, 56 of the movable rollers 44-56 are freely rotatably supported in a lower region 58 of a delta-shaped carrier 60 which is pivotably articulated about the upper tip 62 thereof about an axis 64 which extends horizontally and transversely relative to the forward direction and which can be moved by means of an actuator (not shown) from the bale forming position shown in
A clamping mechanism 66 for tightening the pressing means 34 has a clamping lever 68 which cooperates with a first clamping element (not shown) and a clamping arm 72 which cooperates with a second clamping element 70. Both the clamping element (not shown) and the clamping element 72 can be constructed in conventional manner as a mechanical spring or as a hydraulic motor or may have one.
The clamping lever 68 is supported in the region of the side walls (not shown) about an axis 74 which extends horizontally and transversely relative to the forward direction and carries in an end region 76 facing away from the axis 74 two of the movable rollers 46, 48 and cleaning rollers 46a, 48a which are associated with these rollers 46, 48. The clamping arm 72 is accordingly supported about an axis 78 and carries in an end region 80 one of the movable rollers 44. Furthermore, the clamping arm 68 is operationally connected at one end to the clamping element 70 which is connected at the other end to the press or the frame 14 thereof in a manner not shown.
The pressing means 34 is securely placed against the rotatably driven, fixed roller 38 by means of the clamping arm 70 that it is ensured that it is carried along. The roller 36 is also rotatingly driven. The pressing means 34 assumes a starting state, in which in a state extended in a straight manner it bridges the inlet 24, and an end state, in which it wraps around a bale in the manner of a large loop. The bale pressing space 26 can consequently be changed in terms of its size, that is to say, its diameter increases with the size of the bale 18. The bale is located while it is being formed in the bale pressing space 26 and is surrounded for the most part by the pressing means 34, but falls backwards out of the bale pressing space 26 onto the substrate 18 as soon as the carrier 60 with the movable rollers 50-56 pivots upwards in a counter-clockwise direction when the drawing is viewed. Alternatively, the bale may also be placed on a device which is arranged downstream of the press 10.
One embodiment of the baling press is described in EP 1 308 078 A1. Additional embodiments are described in DE 198 51 470 A1, DE 102 41 215 A1 and EP 1 264 531 A1, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference. It is also possible, however, for the press 10 to be able to be constructed in the manner of a so-called fixed chamber press whose pressing means are formed by substantially fixed rollers.
In a region 82 of the baling press 10 facing the drawbar 20 there may further be provided a wrapping means supply device 84 which guides a wrapping means (not shown) to a bale formed in the bale pressing space 26. According to the present embodiment, the supply is carried out between the upper rollers 30 and 32. At 86, a housing or frame portion of the wrapping means supply device 84 is illustrated. Adjacent to the housing or frame portion 86, there is a deflector device 88 shown which is provided to counteract an accumulation of material or harvested crop, in particular in a region 90 between the housing or frame portion 86 and the pressing means 34.
In
The deflector 94 is at least partially constructed in the manner of a movable or flexible lug. According to the illustrated embodiment, the deflector 94 is provided in one piece and is substantially formed by means of a rubber-like material which is applied to a textile carrier material, wherein the term “rubber” is not limited to natural rubber, but instead is intended to include any other suitable material including a plastic material. Both in the end region 96a, b thereof facing and facing away from the retention means 92, the deflector 94 forms a loop 98 which reinforces the respective end region 96a, b and can counteract fraying.
During operation, the press 10 is moved by means of the operating vehicle (not shown) over a generally uneven substrate. Furthermore, various components or operating means of the press 10 are moving. Thus, for example, the receiving device 22 supplies harvested crop to the bale pressing space 26 to form a bale. Furthermore, the pressing means 34 is moved as shown in
While exemplary embodiments incorporating the principles of the present disclosure have been disclosed hereinabove, the present disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Instead, this application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the disclosure using its general principles. Further, this application is intended to cover such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which this disclosure pertains and which fall within the limits of the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 102017208761.7 | May 2017 | DE | national |
