Outer Stalk Divider With Adjustable Arched Cover
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing agricultural attachments for harvesting row crops, such as corn pickers and corn headers, face challenges in minimizing the loss of bulky components like ears of corn due to inadequate stalk dividers that can cause kinking and allow crop material to fall through gaps.
Innovation Solution
The outer stalk divider features a base body with a tapered hood and a reversibly adjustable cover element that is arched in design to prevent kinking and includes a flexible loss preventer to minimize crop loss, allowing for easy adjustment to different harvesting conditions and crop heights.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If conventional stalk dividers with sharp edges are used, then the structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but the stalks get kinked and crop loss increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cover element features a rounded outer surface that replaces sharp edges with curved contours. This curvature allows stalks to slide along smoothly without kinking, reducing crop loss while maintaining manufacturing feasibility through standard forming processes
2Adaptability or versatility
If fixed stalk dividers are used, then the structure is simple, but the attachment cannot adapt to different harvesting conditions and crop heights
Solution Approach 1:
The cover element is designed with reversible adjustability, allowing it to be moved between different positions (e.g., recessed into or protruding from the base body). This dynamic positioning enables adaptation to various crop heights and harvesting conditions while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure
3Loss of substance
If the cover element is always in the protruding position, then crop loss is minimized, but the bulky components cannot be accessed for maintenance
Solution Approach 1:
The reversible adjustment mechanism allows the cover element to be positioned in different states: protruding during harvesting to minimize crop loss, and retracted during maintenance to improve accessibility. This dynamic repositioning resolves the conflict between operational performance and maintenance ease
Data Source
Figure 1(a)
Figure 1(b)
Figure 2(a)
AI summary
An outer stalk divider for an attachment for harvesting row crop, in particular for a corn picker or corn header, includes a base body that extends in a traveling direction and a surface that extends in the traveling direction on an upper side, a hood, which is situated at the front on the base body as viewed in the traveling direction, and tapers in the traveling direction, and a cover element which, in the traveling direction, is situated behind the hood and on the upper side. Thecover element extends at least partially along the surface of the base body, and is at least partially arched in design on an outer surface facing away from the surface. The cover element may be adjustable relative to the base body.