Fodder Crop Holding Device with Drivers for Material Flow
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing devices for continuous picking up and processing of cut, lying crops like hay or straw face irregularities and congestion due to varying crop properties, height, and density, leading to disturbances in material flow during intake and subsequent processing, particularly critical in pelleting.
Innovation Solution
A holding device equipped with drivers that engage from above to equalize crop layers, combined with a pick-up device featuring spring tines, ensures even material flow by allocating and releasing stalks appropriately, and includes scrapers to detach stalks effectively, allowing for height adjustment and robust construction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional pick-up drums with spring tines are used to compact and hold down stalks, then the crop is prevented from piling up, but unevenly thick and dense crop layers still occur causing material flow irregularities
Solution Approach 1:
The pick-up device is divided into multiple independent tine units that can individually engage and process crop layers. Each tine acts as an independent element that can adapt to local variations in crop density and thickness, preventing the formation of uneven compacted layers while maintaining overall material flow consistency.
Solution Approach 2:
The spring tines are designed with elastic properties allowing them to dynamically adapt to varying crop conditions. The tines can flex and deform according to the local crop density and resistance, enabling the device to handle uneven crop layers without creating material flow irregularities during the picking and conveying process.
2Productivity
If the pick-up device operates at high speed for effective throwing up, then productivity increases, but material flow disturbances occur due to massed accumulation of stalks
Solution Approach 1:
The device performs preliminary distribution and separation of stalks before they enter the main processing stream. The multiple tines pre-sort and space the crop material as it is being picked up, preventing massed accumulation downstream and ensuring uniform material flow delivery to subsequent processing stages even at high intake speeds.
Solution Approach 2:
The spring tines act as an intermediary mechanism between the high-speed pick-up drum and the material flow system. They mediate the transition by gradually releasing and distributing stalks in a controlled manner, smoothing out the material flow and preventing sudden accumulations that would disrupt processing despite high intake velocities.
3Productivity
If the holding device engages deeply into the crop layer to ensure complete pickup, then crop recovery increases, but the device complexity and risk of floor contact increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of increasing engagement depth in the vertical dimension, the solution adds multiple engagement points in the horizontal/circumferential dimension. The star-shaped roller with multiple radially distributed tines provides comprehensive crop pickup through distributed engagement around the circumference, achieving complete crop recovery without requiring excessive vertical penetration that would increase complexity and floor contact risk.
Data Source
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AI summary
Device (1) for continuously picking up and subsequently processing lying straw, in particular grass or straw, during a travel movement of the device (1), in which the straw lying in a direction of travel (4) in front of the device (1) is picked up from the ground by a driveable picking device (5) equipped with tines (7) and introduced into a feed passage (18) of the device (1), wherein a movable holding device (9) is positioned in front of the picking device (5) in the direction of travel (4), which acts on the lying straw and wherein the holding device (9) is equipped with drivers (13) which are designed such that they engage from above into the straw not yet picked up by the picking device (5).