Combine Harvester Preparation Floor with Suction Airflow
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Solution Overview
Problem
Self-propelled combine harvesters face performance limitations due to inefficiencies in the cleaning process, particularly with grain losses during the separation of crop materials, as existing designs restrict construction and process space, and oscillating preparation floors can cause crop material to fall backward, leading to losses.
Innovation Solution
A self-propelled combine harvester with a multi-stage, oscillatingly driven preparation floor divided into vertically offset sections, utilizing a suction fan arrangement to generate an upward airflow, which enhances the separation of grain from non-grain components and increases the cleaning process space, reducing grain losses by mechanical and pneumatic excitation earlier in the process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a multi-stage preparation floor with vertical drop steps is implemented, then the cleaning process area is enlarged and separation efficiency is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The preparation floor is divided into multiple vertically offset sections with distinct functions: a first section for receiving crop material, a second section with a downward slope for gravity-driven movement, and a third section for final preparation before cleaning. This segmentation allows each section to be optimized independently while collectively increasing the cleaning process area and separation efficiency.
2Productivity
If pressure blowers are used to generate airflow through drop steps, then crop transport is improved, but grain losses occur due to backward movement of crop material
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using pressure blowers to push crop material forward through the drop steps, the invention uses suction blowers positioned at the lower end of the second section to create a suction effect that draws crop material through the drop steps in the desired direction. This inversion of the airflow approach prevents backward movement and grain losses while maintaining effective crop transport.
3Productivity
If the preparation floor is divided into vertically offset sections with drop steps, then mechanical and pneumatic excitation occurs earlier, but the available construction space is restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The preparation floor is configured with vertical offset between sections, creating a three-dimensional arrangement where the first section is at a higher level, the second section slopes downward, and the third section is at a lower level. This vertical dimensionality allows mechanical and pneumatic excitation to occur earlier in the process while optimizing the use of available construction space within the combine harvester.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design significantly improves the separation efficiency, reduces grain losses, and increases the performance of the combine harvester by optimizing the preparation floor's structure and airflow, leading to better separation and reduced load on the cleaning device.
Implementation Method 1
a suction blower arrangement downstream of the cleaning device, the blower arrangement being designed to generate an upward airflow traversing the vertical drop step
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2(A)~2(B)
Figure 3(A)~3(B)
AI summary
The present invention relates to a self-propelled combine harvester (1) comprising a threshing device (2), a separating device (3) which each separate a crop flow that reaches a preparation floor (8, 29), and a cleaning device (4) with at least one sieve level downstream of and below the preparation floor (8, 29), wherein a blower arrangement is associated with the cleaning device (4), characterized in that the preparation floor (8, 29) is divided into several vertically offset sections (20, 21, 22; 30, 31, 32), wherein there is a separation between two successive sections (20, 21, 22;30, 31, 32) of the preparation floor (8, 29) forms a vertical drop step (25, 26, 27), each of which is traversed upwards by an airflow (27) generated by a blower arrangement designed as a suction blower arrangement (12) which is downstream of the cleaning device (4).