Fiber Plant Picking Unit with Lateral Drive Motors
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing fiber plant harvesting machines are not optimally configured to efficiently process both short and long fiber plants like flax and hemp, due to differences in plant properties such as length and composition, leading to inefficiencies in picking and processing.
Innovation Solution
A fiber plant picking unit mounted on a vehicle chassis with adjustable picking elements and conveyor belts, featuring a compact design with drive motors positioned adjacent to the conveyor belts to prevent obstruction and allow for independent speed control, enabling efficient picking and processing of both short and long fiber plants.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If drive units are positioned centrally to drive conveyor belts, then power transmission is efficient, but the fibre plants are blocked or impeded during transport
Solution Approach 1:
The drive units are repositioned from a central location to lateral positions adjacent to the throughflow space. This spatial reconfiguration in the lateral dimension allows the drive units to drive the conveyor belts without interfering with the vertical throughflow path of the fibre plants, thereby eliminating obstruction while maintaining efficient power transmission.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If drive units are positioned laterally adjacent to throughflow space, then fibre plants are not obstructed, but the machine height increases
Solution Approach 1:
The drive units are configured with locally optimized characteristics for their lateral position. The drive motors and transmission mechanisms are designed to operate efficiently in the lateral space adjacent to the throughflow path, with compact configurations that minimize height increase while maintaining effective power transmission to the conveyor belts.
3Ease of operation
If multiple drive motors are used for each conveyor belt, then speed control is precise, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The drive system is segmented into multiple independent drive units, with each drive unit equipped with its own drive motor. This segmentation allows each conveyor belt to be controlled independently, providing precise speed control flexibility while distributing the complexity across modular, manageable units rather than requiring a single complex centralized control system.
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
The solution allows for efficient and compact processing of fiber plants by preventing obstruction and enabling flexible speed control, accommodating varying fiber lengths and types, thereby improving harvesting efficiency and machine design.
Implementation Method 1
endless conveyor belts trained over the plurality of pulleys and configured to grip the fibre plants therebetween and to pick and then transport them in gripped state
Data Source
AI summary
Fibre plant picking unit configured to be mounted on a vehicle chassis for picking hemp, comprising one or more picking elements, wherein each picking element comprises: —a frame part; —mounting means for mounting the frame part releasably on the vehicle chassis; and —a fibre plant picking and transport installation arranged on the frame part, comprising: —a plurality of pulleys; —at least one pair of endless conveyor belts trained over the plurality of pulleys and configured to grip the fibre plants therebetween and to pick and then transport them in gripped state, wherein in each case at least one of the pulleys corresponding with a conveyor belt is a drive pulley; and —a plurality of drive motors, wherein each of the drive motors is configured to drive only one or only two drive pulleys of a corresponding conveyor belt.