Protective Disc Cleaning Nozzle for Forage Harvester NIR Sensors
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Solution Overview
Problem
Agricultural harvesting machines with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR) sensors face contamination issues due to crop material adhering to protective panes, leading to reduced measurement accuracy, especially when using ensiling agents, which can cause the protective pane to become stuck or dirty, affecting the accuracy of crop property determination.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates an angled outlet nozzle for a cleaning fluid, allowing it to strike the protective pane with greater force and effectiveness, minimizing the distance between the sensor and crop flow while enabling the protective pane to contact the crop flow, thereby enhancing cleaning and measurement accuracy. This setup includes multiple NIR sensors and an ensiling agent system that uses the same fluid for both cleaning and additive purposes, controlled by a device that ensures optimal operation without disrupting the ensiling agent ratio.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the protective disc is set back from the conveying channel wall to reduce contamination, then the risk of crop particles adhering to the disc is reduced, but the cleaning effectiveness deteriorates due to reduced fluid impact force
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning fluid nozzle is positioned to喷射 cleaning fluid at an angled direction rather than perpendicular to the protective disc, utilizing a different spatial dimension approach to achieve both contamination prevention and effective cleaning simultaneously
2Reliability
If silage additive is added upstream of the sensor device to improve fermentation, then the fermentation process is enhanced, but the protective disc becomes more contaminated and clogged
Solution Approach 1:
A cleaning fluid nozzle is positioned to喷射 cleaning fluid at the protective disc before silage additive can cause severe contamination, preventing the harmful effect of additive-induced clogging and contamination
3Measurement precision
If the sensor is positioned closer to the crop flow to increase measurement accuracy, then the measurement accuracy improves, but the protective disc becomes more susceptible to contamination
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning fluid acts as an intermediary substance between the crop flow and the protective disc, removing contaminants before they can adhere to the disc while allowing the sensor to remain close to the crop flow for accurate measurements
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 configuration significantly improves long-term measurement accuracy by effectively cleaning the protective pane, reducing contamination, and allowing precise detection of crop properties like sugar, protein, and fiber content, even when using ensiling agents, while maintaining the integrity of the ensiling agent mixture.
Implementation Method 1
a nozzle (11) for a cleaning fluid (12), in particular water, whose main jet direction (R) is not parallel but perpendicular to the surface (13) of the protective lens (5)
Implementation Method 2
An improved cleaning effect is achieved by providing a nozzle for a cleaning fluid, particularly water, whose main jet direction is not parallel but perpendicular to the surface of the protective lens
Implementation Method 3
The sensor device has a near-infrared spectroscopy sensor (NIR sensor) which is arranged in a housing
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
AI summary
The present invention relates to an agricultural harvesting machine (1), in particular a forage harvester, with a conveying channel (2) for a crop flow (S), with a sensor device (3) for detecting ingredients and/or properties of the crop flow (S), which has a housing (4), a protective disc (5) closing off the housing (4) to the interior of the conveying channel (2) and a sensor (7) arranged in the space (6) formed by the housing (4) and the protective disc (5), and with a cleaning device (8) configured for cleaning the protective disc (5), wherein the sensor device (3) is associated with an opening (10) formed in a side wall (9) of the conveying channel (2) and the crop flow (S) can be guided past the protective disc (5) in the conveying channel (2).It is proposed that the cleaning device (8) has at least one outlet nozzle (11) for a cleaning fluid (12), wherein the main jet direction (R) of the at least one outlet nozzle (11) is perpendicular to the surface (13) of the protective disc (5).