Concave Adjustment and Suspension Device for Agricultural Harvesters
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Solution Overview
Problem
Concave adjustment systems in agricultural harvesters often lead to reduced operational life and operator discomfort due to inflexibility, which results in damage from threshing forces and impulsive impacts, especially when dealing with damp crop materials or rocks.
Innovation Solution
A concave adjustment and suspension device featuring a torsion bar with pneumatic springs that adjusts the position of the concave frame to relieve impact forces, using a drive to rotate the torsion bar and pneumatic springs to compress and translate rotational forces, providing responsive suspension.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If an inflexible concave adjustment system is used, then the structure is simple and stable, but the operational life is reduced due to damage from threshing forces and impulsive impacts
Solution Approach 1:
The concave adjustment system is transformed from a static rigid structure to a dynamic flexible one by introducing a torsion bar that allows relative rotation between the concave frame and housing. This enables the system to adapt to varying threshing forces and impact loads, thereby improving reliability and operational life while managing the increase in structural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the physical state of the connection between concave and housing by introducing rotational degrees of freedom through the torsion bar mechanism. This parameter change allows the system to respond elastically to impact forces rather than transmitting them rigidly, reducing damage while maintaining structural integrity.
2Ease of operation
If an inflexible concave adjustment system is used, then the mounting structure is stable, but operator discomfort increases due to rotor rumbling
Solution Approach 1:
The dynamic torsion bar connection allows the concave to move relative to the housing in response to impact forces, reducing rotor rumbling and improving operator comfort. This flexibility is achieved while maintaining overall mounting stability through the controlled rotational degrees of freedom provided by the torsion bar mechanism.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If a responsive concave adjustment system is used, then impact damage is reduced, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The torsion bar acts as an intermediary element between the rigid housing and concave frame, absorbing and dissipating impact forces through controlled deformation. This intermediary mechanism reduces impact damage to critical components while adding only moderate complexity compared to fully rigid systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates pneumatic springs to provide responsive suspension and further reduce impact forces. This pneumatic element adds sophistication to the adjustment mechanism, enabling active response to varying load conditions while managing the increase in device complexity.
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 solution extends the operational life of the threshing system by allowing flexible adjustment of the radial distance between the rotor and concave, reducing damage and operator discomfort by effectively managing impact forces.
Implementation Method 1
at least one pneumatic spring mounted to the torsion bar and configured for compressing to relieve the impact force acting on the at least one concave
Implementation Method 2
at least one pneumatic spring mounted to the torsion bar and configured for compressing to relieve the impact force acting on the at least one concave
Implementation Method 3
a torsion bar having a main section and at least one additional section which is rotatably connected to the main section and operably coupled to the concave frame, a drive operably coupled to the main section of the torsion bar and configured for rotating the torsion bar to adjust the position of the concave frame
Data Source
Figure 1
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AI summary
A threshing system (114) for an agricultural vehicle (100) including a rotor (124), a housing (126) surrounding at least a portion of the rotor (124) and including at least one concave (130), and a concave adjustment and suspension device (200) connected to the housing (126) and configured for adjusting a position of the concave frame (132) and relieving an impact force acting on the at least one concave (130). The concave adjustment and suspension device (200) includes a torsion bar (210), a drive (220) operably coupled to the main section (212) of the torsion bar (210) and configured for rotating the torsion bar (210) to adjust the position of the concave frame (132), and at least one pneumatic spring (230) mounted to the torsion bar (210) and configured for compressing to relieve the impact force acting on the at least one concave (130).