The present disclosure relates to a system and method to unload grain from a grain tank on an agricultural harvester to a transport vehicle, and specifically to the use of a diagonally-disposed drag auger and gravity sump for more evenly unloading grain from the grain tank.
The subject of an articulated harvester, some of which are based on current commercial grain harvester designs, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,317,326, 4,428,182, 6,012,272, 6,125,618, 6,339,917, 6,604,351, 6,606,844, 6,604,995, 6,604,350, 6,484,485, 6,612,101, 6,233,911, 6,240,711, 6,167,982, 7,553,228, 8,286,984, 8,292,008, and 8,435,104. A harvester/grain cart combination can be converted to an “articulated” combine as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,910,845. Various grain handling and grain unloading techniques are disclosed, inter alia, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,143,863 and 7,198,449. The disclosures of these patents are expressly incorporated herein by reference.
Most of the articulated combines cited above exhibit compromised design features due to the design basis being limited to current commercial grain harvester designs. For example, current commercial grain harvester designs have an onboard grain bin with the forward bogey along with grain heads, cleaners, etc. That does not make such designs faulty, as they represent a substantial advancement in the harvester art for manufactures that want to maintain current grain harvester architecture.
Current features for today's agricultural harvesters can be based on features disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,286,984, 8,292,008, and 8,435,104.
The presently disclosed articulated combine is based on obtaining more even grain outflow from the grain bin, provision for a side-discharge chaff spreader assembly, a unique unloading arm assembly, and additional features disclosed herein.
Disclosed is an improved articulated combine of a forward grainhead carried by a forward bogey devoid of grain storage and operated by an operator and a rear grain storage bogey. The rear bogey carries a grain unload arm. A diagonal grain auger assembly is disposed within the rear bogey and transfers grain from at least the front area of the rear bogey into the grain unload arm. A grain unload arm assembly is carried by the rear bogey and is composed of a moveable upper grain unload arm and a fixed lower grain unload arm whose proximal end is at a corner of the rear bogey, not at the center which lowers the angle, and which is connected by a slew bearing assembly matable to a rack for rotating. A grain unload auger is disposed within each of the upper grain unload arm and a lower grain unload arm.
The moveable upper unload arm assembly is lifted from a storage position and rotates via the slew bearing assembly to mate with the lower fixed grain unload arm assembly.
For a fuller understanding of the nature and advantages of the present method and process, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:
The drawings will be described in greater detail below.
The articulated agricultural harvester or combine (these terms being synonymous and used interchangeably) in the drawings is a Tribine™ harvester (Tribine Industries LLC, Logansport, Ind.) having a grain bin capacity of 1,000 bushels of clean grain and unloads the clean grain at a rate of 500 bushels per minute. Normal grain removal from an elevated grain bin uses an unload auger running from the back to the front of the grain bin for transferring grain to the unload arm assembly. When grain is unloaded from the grain bin in this fashion, grain preferentially is removed from the rear of the grain bin; thus, leaving the remaining grain in the front of the grain bin. This can cause weight on the tongue (articulation joint) to increase from near zero to around 8,600 lbs. The disclosed diagonal drag auger evens out grain removal so that the grain is removed fairly uniformly from the front as well as the rear of the grain bin; thus, not placing any significant increase on the tongue.
Referring now to
Adjacent to combine 10 is a grain hauling vehicle, 20, consisting of a forward cab with engine, 22, towing a grain trailer, 24, capable of holding 1,000 bushels of clean grain. Such vehicle also could be a grain cart, gravity wagon, or other grain storage vehicle. As is typical for modern day combines, combine 10 unloads its clean grain from rear bogey 16 while the combine is in the field harvesting grain; thus, the need to unload its grain bin very rapidly. In order to accomplish this grain unloading, vehicle 20 is parked next to combine 10 and combine 10 moves over adjacent to semi vehicle 20. Rear bogey 16 then can be crabbed to move its unloading arm 18 to a position such that the discharge end, 26, is centered over grain trailer 24 and clean grain unloading proceeds. Since the combine operator needs to steer combine 10 while simultaneously pulling over close to vehicle 20 and crabbing rear bogey 16, anything to aid the combine operator in knowing precisely where forward bogey 14 and rear bogey 16 are relative to grain hauling semi vehicle 20 would be greatly appreciated by the combine operator.
In order to give this additional position information to the combine operator in rear time, forward bogey 14 is fitting with cameras, 28, on its unload left side and optionally on its right side. Rear bogey 14 also is fitted with camera, 32, at its upper front center looking into the grain storage bin. Each of these cameras feeds a video image to the combine operator so he can see grain hauling semi vehicle disclosed harvester and a grain-hauling vehicle 20.
Rear bogey 16 also is fitted with a proximity sensor, 34, at its left rear. Discharge end 26 of grain unloading arm 18 also is fitted with a camera, 38. An additional camera, 39, is carried by rear bogey 16 at its upper rear. Finally cornhead 12 is fitted with a proximity sensor, 40 at its left side. All proximity sensors also feed their data to the combine operator. For example, the cameras may be Agcam cameras (Dakota Micro, Inc., Cayuga, N. Dak.) and the sensors may be Senix TSPC-155 ultrasonic distance sensors (Senix Corporation, Hinesburg, Vt.). Harvesting combine 10 unloads clean grain only on its left side in the embodiment in the drawings. It will be recognized that the cameras and sensors could be located only on the right side for unloading clean grain on the right side or located on both sides for providing unloading of clean grain on both sides. The use of such proximity sensors and cameras is disclosed in commonly-owned application identified by Attorney Docket No. DIL2015PC, filed on even date herewith.
Referring now also to
An auger, 48 (
Referring now to
Diagonal auger 66 draws grain from the front of rear bogey 16 to even out grain removal both front and back. The front pitch of diagonal auger 66 is closer together and the pitch opens up or widens towards the rear. The close pitch will only hold so much grain. When the pitch widens, diagonal drag auger 66 picks up more grain; thus, an even discharge of grain front to back. If the pitch were the same all along diagonal auger 66, the grain bin would empty from the front first because the auger pitches would be full; rather, then a more even emptying of grain front to back. The auger in lower unload arm 18B also draws grain from a sump (lowest area in rear bogey 16) at the rear of rear bogey 16. Thus, rear bogey 16 grain removal system consists of the sump auger that draws grain from the rear are of the grain bin and diagonal drag auger 66 that draws grain from the front area of the grain bin; thus, resulting in even grain removal from the grain bin carried by rear bogey 16. A framework assembly, 68, supports auger 66, as seen in
Referring now to
While the apparatus and method have been described with reference to various embodiments, those skilled in the art will understand that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope and essence of the disclosure. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the disclosure without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the disclosure not be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed, but that the disclosure will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims. In this application all units are in the metric system and all amounts and percentages are by weight, unless otherwise expressly indicated. Also, all citations referred herein are expressly incorporated herein by reference.
This application claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/756,338 filed Jan. 24, 2013. Not applicable.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/US14/12743 | 1/23/2014 | WO | 00 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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61756334 | Jan 2013 | US | |
61756337 | Jan 2013 | US |