Combine Harvester Header Wing Draper Belt Positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing combine harvester headers face challenges in maintaining consistent crop material collection and processing efficiency due to uneven fields and crop rows, leading to potential crop loss and reduced harvesting capacity.
Innovation Solution
A header design featuring a center section with a first draper belt and pivotably coupled wings, each with a second draper belt and a cutterbar, maintaining fixed positional relationships to ensure constant distance and uniform movement during pivoting, allowing continuous crop flow and reduced loss.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the wing sections are made pivotable to accommodate uneven fields, then adaptability is improved, but maintaining constant distance between cutterbar and draper belt becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The wing, second draper belt, and cutterbar are merged into a single pivotable assembly that moves together as one unit. This ensures that the relative positions between components remain constant during pivoting, resolving the contradiction between adaptability and precision by making the entire subsystem adjustable rather than individual components
Solution Approach 2:
The assembly transitions from a static configuration to a dynamic one where the entire wing-draper belt-cutterbar unit can pivot together. This dynamic capability allows the system to adapt to field conditions while maintaining internal geometric relationships, as the fixed positional relationship is preserved during the pivoting motion
2Reliability
If the cutterbar and draper belt maintain fixed positional relationship during pivoting, then crop collection consistency is improved, but structural complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
By combining the cutterbar support, draper belt support, and wing into an integrated pivotable assembly, the patent reduces structural complexity compared to having separate adjustment mechanisms for each component. The merger ensures fixed positional relationships while avoiding the need for multiple independent adjustment systems
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated assembly serves multiple functions simultaneously: the wing provides structural support, the draper belt conveys crop material, and the cutterbar cuts the crop. All these functions are achieved within a single pivotable unit, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining reliable crop collection consistency
Data Source
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AI summary
A header (18) for a combine harvester (10) includes a center section (26) having a first draper belt (50) configured to move crop material in a first direction. The header (18) also includes a wing (30) pivotably coupled to the center section (26) about a pivot axis (58) and extending laterally away from the center section (26). The header (18) also includes a second draper belt (42) coupled to the wing (30) and configured to move crop material in a second direction different than the first direction. The wing (30) and the second draper belt (42) are in a fixed positional relationship with each other, such that the wing (30) is configured to remain at a constant distance from the second draper belt (42) at all points along the wing (30) during pivoting movement of the wing (30).