Patent Application
20240049641
The present disclosure is generally related to sugar cane harvesters and, more particularly, extractors for sugarcane harvesters.
Sugarcane harvesters comprise agricultural equipment used to harvest sugarcane crop. In essence, sugarcane harvesters strip off the leaves, cut sugarcane stalks close to the base, and cut the sugarcane into segments or billets that form part of a harvested crop flow that is cleaned of extraneous material (e.g., straw, dirt, etc.) and stored on-board and/or discharged to an accompanying trailer or truck.
The cleaning of the harvested crop flow is typically performed at one or more extractors that are located downstream of the chopping system that chops the sugarcane into billets. These extractors are each typically equipped with a fan assembly and powered using a hydraulic motor, the latter drawing machine power. Hence, inefficiencies in operating the fan assemblies of these extractors should be addressed along with other subsystem inefficiencies in an effort to make machines more energy efficient.
Many aspects of certain embodiments of an extractor system can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present systems and methods. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.
In one embodiment, an extractor for a sugarcane harvester, comprising: a housing having a volume and an inlet and an outlet; a fan assembly disposed within the volume; and a guide vane disposed between the fan assembly and the outlet, the guide vane arranged to divide the volume.
Certain embodiments of an extractor system and method for a sugarcane harvester are disclosed that cleans or filters harvested material flow in an efficient way. In one embodiment, the extractor system comprises a guide vane that is disposed within an outlet volume of an extractor housing, the guide vane dividing the outlet volume into two volumes that provides a more even air flow while reducing turbulence in the outlet volume. With a more even air flow, operation of a fan assembly used in the extractor system is more efficient, providing savings in terms of absorbed power drawn by the fan assembly.
Digressing briefly, existing extractor systems draw air and other material through a substantially uniform volume, where in the outlet volume, turbulence is common, which causes increased consumption of power on the fan assembly used therein. In contrast, certain embodiments of an extractor system may be used in one or more of the extractors of a sugarcane harvester to divide the drawn air flow and reduce the turbulences in the outlet volume.
Having summarized certain features of an extractor system, reference will now be made in detail to the description of an extractor system as illustrated in the drawings. While an example extractor system will be described in connection with these drawings, there is no intent to limit it to the embodiment or embodiments disclosed herein. Further, although the description identifies or describes specifics of one or more embodiments, such specifics are not necessarily part of every embodiment, nor are all of any various stated advantages necessarily associated with a single embodiment. On the contrary, the intent is to cover all alternatives, modifications and equivalents included within the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims. Further, it should be appreciated in the context of the present disclosure that the claims are not necessarily limited to the particular embodiments set out in the description.
Note that references hereinafter made to certain directions, such as, for example, “front”, “rear”, “left” and “right”, are made as viewed from the rear of the sugarcane harvester looking forwardly.
Referring now to
The guide vane 42 divides a volume 44 of the housing located between a hub of the fan assembly 40 and the outlet 38. In one embodiment, the guide vane 42 divides the volume 44 into a top or upper volume 46 and a bottom or lower volume 48, the guide vane 42 extending substantially between opposing side interior surfaces of the housing 34, though in some embodiments, may be in contact with the opposing side interior surfaces and in some embodiments may leave a gap of one or more inches between the edge of the guide vane 42 and the opposing side interior surfaces of the housing 34. In some embodiments, the guide vane 42 may divide the volume 44 into a left and right volume, or divide the volume 44 according to other volume split configurations (e.g., angled) in some embodiments. In one embodiment, the guide vane 42 is replaceably mounted to the fan assembly 40. For instance, the guide vane 42 may be coupled to the fan assembly 40 using a flange that is mounted to the shaft of the fan assembly 40. In some embodiments, the guide vane 42 is fixedly attached (e.g., welded) to the fan assembly and the interior surfaces of the housing 34. Other types and/or locations for attachment of the guide vane 42 may be used in some embodiments. In some embodiments, the guide vane 42 may be comprised of plural (e.g., two) parts that may be removable/replaceable in some embodiments.
In one embodiment, air flow drawn by fan operation influences or draws material from the harvested crop flow from the chopper system 24 (and in the case of the second extractor 30, from the elevator 28) into the extractor system 32, the material drawn through the inlet 36, past the fan assembly 40 and into the divided top (or upper) volume 46 and bottom (or lower) 48 volume of the upper housing 34 or outlet volume 44, enabling an even distribution of the drawn material and air flow through the outlet volume 44 of the housing 34 and out the outlet 38. Through the even air flow distribution enabled by the guide vane 42, turbulence is avoided or mitigated and the fan assembly 40 works more efficiently, which enables a savings in terms of absorbed power of the fan assembly 40.
Having described certain embodiments of an extractor system 32, it should be appreciated by one having ordinary skill in the art in the context of the present disclosure that one embodiment of an example method for extracting material from harvested sugarcane and implemented in an extractor of a sugarcane harvester, denoted in
In this description, references to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, or “embodiments” mean that the feature or features being referred to are included in at least one embodiment of the technology. Separate references to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, or “embodiments” in this description do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment and are also not mutually exclusive unless so stated and/or except as will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the description. For example, a feature, structure, act, etc. described in one embodiment may also be included in other embodiments, but is not necessarily included. Thus, the present technology can include a variety of combinations and/or integrations of the embodiments described herein. Although the control systems and methods have been described with reference to the example embodiments illustrated in the attached drawing figures, it is noted that equivalents may be employed and substitutions made herein without departing from the scope of the disclosure as protected by the following claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020257.8 | Dec 2020 | GB | national |
This application is a national stage application under 35 U.S.C. 371 of International Patent Application No. PCT/IB2021/059313, filed on Dec. 12, 2021, claims the benefit of U.K. Application No. 2020257.8, filed Dec. 21, 2020, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IB2021/059313 | 10/12/2021 | WO |
