Forage harvester with separate processing of material flows

Abstract

Forage harvester (10) with a harvesting attachment (20) for harvesting maize or other stem-like plants having detachable fruit heads, wherein: The harvesting head (20) comprises a supporting frame (60) extending over the width of the harvesting head (20) and across the width of which are devices for harvesting plants in the form of mowing and intake units (56), which are equipped with lower cutting discs for cutting the stems from the stumps remaining in the ground and above them conveying discs with recesses distributed around their edge for receiving the stems of the plants, and above the mowing and intake units (56) are means for separating fruit heads of the plants in the form of picking units (54), The fruit bunches separated by means of the picking units (54) can be conveyed together by an upper transverse conveyor (48) and fed to the rear by a conveyor (44) into a first intake channel of the forage harvester (10) which is laterally offset from the longitudinal center plane of the harvesting head (20), while the remaining plant parts can be conveyed together by a lower transverse conveyor (50) and fed to the rear into a second intake channel of the forage harvester (10) adjacent to the longitudinal center plane of the harvesting head (20), the forage harvester (10) comprises a chopping drum (22) with knives (62, 64) distributed around its circumference, into which the fruit heads can be fed through the first intake channel in a first section (70) of the chopping drum (22) and separately the remaining plant parts through the second intake channel in a second section (68) of the chopping drum (22), wherein the second section (68) is axially offset from the first section (70) and rigidly connected to the first section (70), the circumferentially successive knives (62) of the chopping drum (22) in the first section (70) have a smaller distance between them than the circumferentially successive knives (64) in the second section (68) and / or the conveying speed in the first feed channel is greater than the conveying speed in the second feed channel, only the first section (70) is assigned a downstream post-crushing arrangement with two cooperating rollers (28, 28') which serves to break up the grains of the fruit heads for better digestibility, and Downstream of the chopping drum (22) is a discharge device with a discharge conveyor (24) for accelerating the chopped fruit heads entering from the secondary chopping device and the chopped remaining plant parts entering from the second section (68) and a discharge spout (26) through which both the chopped fruit heads and the chopped remaining plant parts can be transferred to a transport vehicle.

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a forage harvester with a harvesting attachment. Technological background

[0002] Forage harvesters are used to harvest whole plants or parts thereof. These are picked up from a field by a harvesting header, compressed by pre-compression rollers, and fed into a chopping drum. The chopping blades of this drum, working in conjunction with a counter blade, cut the plants. The chopped plants or parts are then fed into a conditioning unit to break down any remaining kernels and conveyed by a post-accelerator into a discharge chute, which transfers them to a transport vehicle. The harvested plants are typically used as animal feed or for biogas production.

[0003] The conditioning device (see DE 10 2008 017 364 A1) typically comprises two driven rollers between which the harvested crop is passed. It has a relatively high drive power requirement, as both the stems and leaves of the plants as well as the fruit heads are conveyed through it.

[0004] Several approaches to processing the fruit heads and other plant parts separately have existed in the prior art. For example, DE 195 27 698 C2, SU 1 713 475 A1, and NL 1 007 189 C propose separating the fruit heads from the other plant parts during harvesting, feeding them separately to a shredding device, and finally directing the chopped fruit heads and other plant parts into separate containers. DE 195 28 817 C2 describes a forage harvester in which the fruit heads are separated from the other plant parts and fed separately to separate shredding devices or a shared shredding device, and the chopped fruit heads and other plant parts are then directed into separate containers. This approach is relatively impractical, as the harvested material must be conveyed from the forage harvester into two separate containers, which then have to be transported and unloaded separately.Furthermore, the arrangements described in the three documents mentioned first require two separate shredding devices, which entails considerable expense.

[0005] In DD 265 544 A1, it is proposed that the fruit heads first be fed into a damaging device consisting of two belts equipped with pins, driven at different speeds, between which the fruit heads are guided. The damaged fruit heads are then shredded together with the remaining plant material and transferred to a transport vehicle. A disadvantage is that the damaging device has not proven to be practical.

[0006] In contrast, EP 1 106 047 A1 proposes feeding the seed heads into a hammer mill while the remaining plant parts are shredded. The two material streams can be directed into separate containers via separate discharge spouts or combined and discharged into a transport container via a single spout. In this case, the hammer mill simultaneously shreds and processes the seed heads. However, this method has also proven impractical.

[0007] Finally, AT 310 569 B describes a forage wagon with a pick-up for collecting grass, followed by a cross conveyor to convey the harvested crop to the side. There, it is fed by inlet rollers to a first section of a chopping drum. To enable the forage wagon to also be used for harvesting corn, a corn header or a corn harvester for harvesting entire plants can be mounted on the wagon. The corn cobs or plants are then fed by separate inlet rollers to a second section of the chopping drum, which is equipped with knives spaced closer together circumferentially than the first section, since corn is to be cut shorter than green fodder, hay, or straw picked up by the initial unit. The chopped crop is then conveyed into the loading area of ​​the forage wagon.Therefore, either only the first section of the chopping drum is used for grass harvesting or only the second section of the chopping drum is used for maize harvesting at the same time, not both at the same time, in order to harvest the fruit heads and the other parts of the plant separately. Task

[0008] The object underlying the invention is seen as being to provide a forage harvester that does not have the aforementioned disadvantages or has them to a reduced extent. invention

[0009] The present invention is defined by the patent claims.

[0010] A forage harvester with a harvesting head is described. The harvesting head is equipped with devices for harvesting plants and means for separating the seed heads. The seed heads are fed into a first intake channel of the forage harvester, while the remaining plant parts are fed into a second intake channel. The harvesting head therefore includes means for separating the seed heads from the remaining plant parts. These means may be picking units. The seed heads and the remaining plant parts are fed into separate intake channels of the forage harvester in separate streams. The forage harvester comprises a chopping drum with knives distributed around its circumference.The first section of the chopping drum receives the fruit heads through the first feed channel, while the remaining plant parts are fed separately to a second section of the chopping drum, which is axially offset from the first and rigidly connected to it, through the second feed channel. The chopping of the two material streams therefore takes place separately, but by a single chopping drum in two axially offset sections.To process the fruit heads with a different intensity and, in particular, to chop them into smaller pieces than the other plant parts, the circumferentially arranged knives of the chopping drum in the first section have a different, and especially smaller, spacing than those in the second section, and / or the conveying speed in the first feed channel differs from the conveying speed in the second feed channel, and may, in particular, be higher than that in the second feed channel. In other words, the cutting lengths with which the chopping drum processes the two crop streams differ.

[0011] Downstream of the chopping drum is the only ejection device, through which both the chopped fruit heads and the chopped, remaining plant parts can be loaded onto a transport vehicle together.

[0012] The first section is associated with a downstream secondary shredding arrangement, which is constructed in a manner known per se from two or more cooperating rollers. Such post-processing by a secondary shredding arrangement comprising two rollers is unnecessary for the material flow discharged from the second section of the chopping drum, because the chopped, remaining plant parts do not contain any seed heads requiring further shredding.

[0013] However, it would be conceivable to feed the material flow discharged from the second section of the chopping drum to a recutting device or a friction floor arranged between the second section of the chopping drum and a discharge conveyor. Example of implementation

[0014] An embodiment of the invention is explained with reference to the illustrations. They show: Fig. 1 a schematic side view of a forage harvester with a harvesting attachment, and Fig. 2 a schematic top view of the forage harvester and the harvesting attachment.

[0015] In the Fig. Figure 1 shows a schematic side view of a self-propelled forage harvester 10. The forage harvester 10 is built on a supporting chassis 12, which is carried by front driven wheels 14 and steerable rear wheels 16. The forage harvester 10 is operated from a driver's cab 18, from which a harvesting header 20, detachably attached to a feed housing 36, is visible. An operator interface 98 equipped with display and input devices and an associated control unit 52 enable the operator to monitor and change operating parameters of the forage harvester 10 from their workstation.

[0016] The harvesting header 20 is suitable for harvesting maize or other stem-like plants (such as sunflowers) that have detachable fruit heads (cobs, seed heads). The harvesting header 20 comprises a supporting frame 60 that extends across its width and on which a number (eight in the illustrated embodiment, although any other number would also be possible) of picking units 54 and mowing and intake devices 56 arranged below them are distributed across the width. The picking units 54 each comprise a picking slot and one or two picking rollers arranged below it, which draw the plant stems downwards during operation so that the fruit heads are separated from the other plant parts (stems and leaves) at the picking slot.The crop heads are gathered by an upper transverse conveyor 48 in the form of a transverse screw conveyor and fed, slightly offset from the longitudinal center plane of the harvesting header 20, to a conveyor 44, which discharges them to the rear into a first intake channel of the forage harvester 10. The first intake channel comprises upper pre-compression rollers 34 and lower pre-compression rollers 38, the lower and / or upper of which are pre-tensioned against the upper and / or lower ones, respectively, either by spring force and / or a hydraulic cylinder (not shown).

[0017] The remaining plant parts are harvested by means of the mowing and intake devices 56 arranged below the picking units 54. These devices comprise lower cutting discs for separating the stems from the stumps remaining in the ground and conveying discs arranged above them with recesses distributed around their edges to receive the plant stems. The remaining plant parts are gathered by a lower transverse conveyor 50 in the form of a transverse auger and discharged rearward, adjacent to the longitudinal center plane of the harvesting head 20, into a second intake channel of the forage harvester 10. The second intake channel comprises upper pre-compression rollers 30 and lower pre-compression rollers 32, the lower and / or upper of which are pre-tensioned against the upper and / or lower rollers, respectively, either by spring force and / or a hydraulic cylinder (not shown).

[0018] The harvesting header 20 is detachably attached to an intake housing 36 of the forage harvester 10, which accommodates the two intake channels with the pre-compression rollers 34, 38 and 30, 32 and can be pivoted about the axis of rotation of a chopping drum 22 by an actuator (not shown) in order to adjust the height of the harvesting header relative to the ground. The harvesting header itself is described in EP 1 106 047 A1, the disclosure of which is incorporated into the present documents by reference.

[0019] The fruit heads conveyed in the first feed channel are fed to a first section 70 of a chopping drum 22 and shredded by this section in conjunction with a first counter blade 40, while the remaining plant parts conveyed in the second feed channel are fed to a second section 68 of the chopping drum 22 and shredded by this section in conjunction with a second counter blade 46. In the illustrated embodiment, the two feed channels and counter blades 40, 46 are offset in the circumferential direction of the chopping drum 22, although they could also lie in a common plane.

[0020] The two sections 68, 70 of the chopping drum 22 are rigidly connected to each other and preferably manufactured as a single-piece element. They can comprise a closed drum shell or be manufactured as an open construction. The diameters of both sections 70, 68 are specified in the Fig. The two sections are shown as being of the same size, even though they could be different. For example, the second section, 68, could have a larger diameter than the first section, 70, because it typically has to process a higher throughput. However, having both sections, 68 and 70, have the same diameter offers manufacturing advantages.

[0021] In the first section 70, the chopping drum 22 comprises a number of knives 62 distributed around its circumference, which may extend over the entire width of the first section 70 or a part thereof. In the second case, axially adjacent knives 62 may be offset circumferentially, as shown in the Fig. 2 shown, or aligned with each other on a line. The cutting edges of the knives 62 can run axially, or as shown in the Fig. 2 shown, arranged at an angle to the axis of rotation.

[0022] In the second section 68, the chopping drum 22 comprises a number of knives 64 distributed around its circumference, which may extend over the entire width of the first section 68 or a part thereof. In the second case, axially adjacent knives 64 may be offset circumferentially, as shown in the Fig. 2 shown, or aligned with each other on a line. The cutting edges of the knives 64 can run axially, or as shown in the Fig. 2 shown, arranged at an angle to the axis of rotation.

[0023] In order to be able to process the fruiting bodies more intensively than the other parts of the plant, the circumferentially adjacent knives 62 provided in the first section 70 are arranged closer together than the knives 64 in the second section 68.

[0024] Alternatively or additionally, the conveying speed in the first feed channel (i.e., the circumferential speed of the pre-compression rollers 34 and 38) can differ from the conveying speed in the second feed channel (i.e., the circumferential speed of the pre-compression rollers 30 and 32) and, in particular, can be greater in the first conveying channel than in the second conveying channel.

[0025] This ensures that the cutting lengths of the fruit heads and the other plant parts (determined by the conveying speed in the respective feed channel and the circumferential spacing of successive knives in the chopping drum) are different or can be different. This allows the fruit heads, in particular, to be shredded more intensively than the other plant parts, which simplifies further processing (see the following paragraph). However, it would also be conceivable to choose a shorter cutting length for the other plant parts than for the fruit heads, depending on the farmer's preference or nutritional science.By means of an automatic control of the conveying speed in the first intake channel, the cutting length of the fruit bunches could also be selected depending on the throughput in the first intake channel, in order to chop the fruit bunches smaller the greater the throughput and vice versa, which simplifies the post-processing and requires less energy for the latter.

[0026] On the discharge side (downstream) of the first section 70, a post-processing device (grain processor) with two cooperating rollers 28, 28' of any embodiment follows, which serves to break up the grains of the fruit clusters for better digestibility.Downstream of the post-processing unit, the fruit heads entering from the first intake channel, which are chopped and post-processed in the first section 70 of the chopping drum 22, and the remaining plant parts entering from the second intake channel, which are chopped less short than the fruit heads in the second section 68 of the chopping drum 22, combine to form a single stream, which is accelerated by a discharge conveyor 24 and passes via a rotary ring 66 into a discharge manifold 26 with an adjustable discharge flap, which can be rotated vertically and about its vertical axis by actuators (not shown). This manifold serves as an ejection device to transfer the chopped crop onto a transport vehicle driving alongside the forage harvester 10.

[0027] The drive of the chopping drum 22 and the discharge conveyor 24 can be carried out in the usual way by a belt drive from an internal combustion engine arranged longitudinally or transversely in the rear of the forage harvester 10.

[0028] It should also be noted that in the illustrated embodiment, the second intake channel with the upper pre-compression rollers 30 and lower pre-compression rollers 32 is arranged precisely on the longitudinal center plane of the forage harvester 10. The merging with the second crop flow downstream of the post-processing unit means that the discharge conveyor 24 and the rotary ring 66 are not arranged on the longitudinal center plane of the forage harvester 10, but rather in the Fig. 2 are offset laterally to the left. However, the two intake channels and the chopping drum 22 could be moved to the right in order to ultimately bring the discharge conveyor 24 and the slewing ring 66 back to the longitudinal center plane of the forage harvester 10.

[0029] Furthermore, it would be conceivable to combine the pre-compression rollers 30 and 32 of the first feed channel on the one hand and the pre-compression rollers 34 and 38 of the second pre-compression channel on the other, i.e., to design them analogously to the chopping drum 22 as a single element that extends over both feed channels.

Claims

[1] Forage harvester (10) with a harvesting head (20) for harvesting maize or other stem-like plants having detachable fruit heads, wherein: The harvesting head (20) comprises a supporting frame (60) extending over the width of the harvesting head (20) and across the width of which are devices for harvesting plants in the form of mowing and intake units (56), which are equipped with lower cutting discs for cutting the stems from the stumps remaining in the ground and above them conveying discs with recesses distributed around their edge for receiving the stems of the plants, and above the mowing and intake units (56) are means for separating fruit heads of the plants in the form of picking units (54), The fruit bunches separated by means of the picking units (54) can be conveyed together by an upper transverse conveyor (48) and fed to the rear by a conveyor (44) into a first intake channel of the forage harvester (10) which is laterally offset from the longitudinal center plane of the harvesting head (20), while the remaining plant parts can be conveyed together by a lower transverse conveyor (50) and fed to the rear into a second intake channel of the forage harvester (10) adjacent to the longitudinal center plane of the harvesting head (20), the forage harvester (10) comprises a chopping drum (22) with knives (62, 64) distributed around its circumference, into which the fruit heads can be fed through the first intake channel in a first section (70) of the chopping drum (22) and separately the remaining plant parts through the second intake channel in a second section (68) of the chopping drum (22), wherein the second section (68) is axially offset from the first section (70) and rigidly connected to the first section (70), the circumferentially successive knives (62) of the chopping drum (22) in the first section (70) have a smaller distance between them than the circumferentially successive knives (64) in the second section (68) and / or the conveying speed in the first feed channel is greater than the conveying speed in the second feed channel, only the first section (70) is assigned a downstream post-crushing arrangement with two cooperating rollers (28, 28') which serves to break up the grains of the fruit heads for better digestibility, and Downstream of the chopping drum (22) is a discharge device with a discharge conveyor (24) for accelerating the chopped fruit heads entering from the secondary chopping device and the chopped remaining plant parts entering from the second section (68) and a discharge spout (26) through which both the chopped fruit heads and the chopped remaining plant parts can be transferred to a transport vehicle.

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