Vehicle-Mounted Hay Feeder With Sliding Pusher Dispensing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional methods for feeding livestock with hay or silage bales are labor-intensive and prone to mechanical failures due to the manual handling of large, tightly bound bales, which can cause physical harm and result in uneven distribution of feed, limiting access for all animals.
Innovation Solution
A feeding device mounted on a vehicle with a sliding pusher mechanism and winch system that progressively dispenses bales from a row, accompanied by a bale string removal system to manage and remove binding strings, ensuring a continuous and even distribution of feed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If manual methods are used to load and dispense bales, then labor intensity is high and physical damage risk increases, but mechanical complexity is low
Solution Approach 1:
The feeder body is divided into multiple compartments (first compartment, second compartment, third compartment) that can independently hold and dispense different types of feed. This segmentation allows the system to handle multiple feed types simultaneously without requiring complex mechanical operations for each type, reducing overall labor intensity while maintaining manageable mechanical complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The bale dispensing mechanism uses gravity and the weight of the bales themselves to facilitate their movement from the compartments to the ground. The bales are positioned such that they can be dispensed with minimal mechanical intervention, allowing the system to serve itself rather than requiring continuous manual or complex mechanical operation.
2Ease of operation
If mechanically operated feeders are used to unload individual bales, then labor intensity decreases, but productivity is limited due to the need for numerous trips to reload
Solution Approach 1:
The feeder is divided into multiple compartments that can collectively hold a large number of bales (e.g., first compartment with multiple bales, second compartment with multiple bales, third compartment with multiple bales). This allows the vehicle to make fewer trips to the feed storage area, significantly increasing productivity per trip while maintaining ease of operation through the automated dispensing mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple bale-holding compartments are combined into a single integrated feeder system mounted on the vehicle. This merging of multiple feeding stations into one unit allows continuous dispensing of multiple bales without requiring the vehicle to return to the feed storage area between bales, thereby increasing feeding capacity per trip.
3Ease of operation
If bales bound with string are mechanically handled, then labor intensity decreases, but reliability decreases due to string entanglement in machinery
Solution Approach 1:
The string binding the bales is extracted and removed from the mechanical dispensing path. The compartments are designed to hold the bales in a manner that prevents the binding strings from contacting the moving parts of the dispensing mechanism, thereby eliminating the risk of entanglement and mechanical failure while still allowing automated operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The compartment structure acts as an intermediary between the bound bales and the dispensing mechanism. It holds the bales securely during transport and positioning, allowing the string to remain on the bales without interfering with the mechanical operation, thus maintaining both automated handling and reliability.
4Device complexity
If individual bales are dispensed one at a time, then device complexity is low, but productivity is low due to multiple trips required
Solution Approach 1:
The feeder uses multiple compartments (first, second, and third compartments) that can each hold multiple bles. This segmentation allows the system to dispense multiple bales in sequence from a single loading trip, increasing productivity without requiring overly complex mechanical structures for each individual bale handling operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The feeder is designed to continuously dispense bales from multiple compartments in sequence. As one bale is dispensed from a compartment, the next bale is automatically positioned to be dispensed, maintaining continuous useful action without requiring the vehicle to stop or return for additional loading, thereby increasing productivity per trip.
Data Source
AI summary
There is disclosed a feeding device (10) for dispensing bales of material from a vehicle. The feeding device (10) includes a body (12) having a surface for receiving a plurality of said bales thereon. The surface has a first end (12a) and a second end (12b) and is configured such that the plurality of bales are arranged in at least one row extending at least partially between the first and second ends (12a, 12b). A pusher (18) is slidably mounted to the surface and moveable between a first position proximal the first end (12a) and a second position proximal the second end (12b). A driving mechanism is provided and is controllable to move the pusher (18) between the first and second positions. Such movement of the pusher (18) from the first position to the second position applies a pushing force to the bales arranged in at least one row such that the bales in that row are progressively dispensed from said second end (12b) of the surface.