Hinged Auger Sections for Ground Contour Adaptation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current agricultural harvesters face challenges in effectively harvesting crops across varying ground contours due to rigid auger designs that do not allow for adaptive movement, leading to loss of grain, especially in crops like wheat or rye.
Innovation Solution
A hinged auger system with multiple sections and a hingeable coupling that allows each section to rotate about different axes, enabled by an auger crankshaft passing through an internal opening, allowing for flexible adaptation to ground contours and improved crop gathering.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a rigid auger design is used, then the structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but the header cannot adapt to varying ground contours, leading to grain loss
Solution Approach 1:
The auger is divided into multiple sections that can move independently relative to each other. Each section can adapt to local ground contours while remaining part of the overall auger structure, resolving the contradiction between adaptability and structural simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The auger sections are made dynamically movable through hingeable couplings rather than being rigidly fixed. This allows the auger to dynamically adjust its configuration to follow ground contours while maintaining a relatively simple mechanical structure based on conventional auger design.
2Productivity
If the header width is increased to improve crop gathering capability, then more crop can be harvested, but the rigid auger cannot maintain effective positioning across the wider span
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the auger into multiple sections with hingeable couplings, each section can maintain proper positioning and rotational alignment independently, ensuring reliable crop gathering across the entire width of the header even as the overall span increases.
Solution Approach 2:
The hingeable couplings allow the auger sections to change their relative positions and angles, adapting the auger's physical parameters to maintain optimal positioning across varying header widths and ground contours, thereby preserving positioning accuracy while enabling wider headers.
3Adaptability or versatility
If hinged couplings are added to allow section movement, then adaptability to ground contours improves, but power transmission through the hinged sections becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
The hingeable couplings act as intermediaries that facilitate both mechanical movement and power transmission. By designing the couplings to include bearing surfaces and connection points for drive shafts, they mediate between the need for section independence and the need for continuous power transmission without requiring complex universal joints or constant velocity mechanisms.
Data Source
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AI summary
An agricultural harvester (10) includes a chassis (12), a header (18) for cutting and gathering crop material, the header (18) being carried by the chassis (12), and an auger (38). The auger (38) moves the cut crop material toward a central area of the header (18). The auger (38) is rotatably carried by the header (18). The auger (38) has a plurality of auger sections (38A, 38B). The auger (38) includes an auger crankshaft (78) and a hingeable coupling (74) for coupling two of the auger sections (38 A, 38B) to each other. The hingeable coupling (74) allows the auger sections (38 A, 38B) to rotate about differing axes. The hingeable coupling (74) has an internal opening (76). The auger crankshaft (78) provides positional timing to auger fingers. The auger crankshaft (78) passing through the internal opening (76).