Removable Auger Trough for Agricultural Vehicle Cleaning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Agricultural vehicle grain troughs often contain unwanted material, such as straw and grain, which is difficult to remove due to small clean-out openings, requiring significant time and effort from operators.
Innovation Solution
An auger bed system with a selectively closable opening that reverses auger direction to automatically remove unwanted material, featuring a frame with a trough portion that moves between working and cleaning positions to expose openings for easy material passage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If small clean-out openings are used in the grain trough, then the structural integrity and containment are improved, but the ease of removing unwanted material deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The grain trough transitions from a static structure to a dynamic one by enabling movement between working and cleaning positions. This allows the trough to adapt its configuration based on operational needs, providing both structural integrity during grain transport and easy access during cleaning operations
Solution Approach 2:
The grain trough is divided into movable and stationary components, allowing the trough portion to be selectively positioned. This segmentation enables the cleaning openings to be accessible during maintenance while maintaining structural containment during operation
2Device complexity
If manual cleaning methods are used with small openings, then the structural design is simplified, but the time and effort required for cleaning increases
Solution Approach 1:
The auger system incorporates dynamic directional control, allowing it to reverse rotation direction. This enables the auger to automatically propel unwanted material toward cleaning openings, significantly reducing manual intervention time while adding only minimal control mechanism complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The auger system performs self-cleaning by utilizing its own rotational capability in reverse. The auger automatically moves unwanted material toward the openings without requiring external cleaning equipment or significant manual effort, making the system self-sufficient for maintenance
3Ease of operation
If the trough portion is moved to cleaning position, then the ease of material removal is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The grain trough employs dynamic positioning capability, allowing it to move between working and cleaning positions. This dynamic feature enables easy material removal during cleaning while maintaining structural integrity during operation, with the added complexity of movable joints and positioning mechanisms
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
The system allows for efficient and automatic cleaning of unwanted material from the auger bed, reducing operator effort and time by selectively opening or closing openings to facilitate removal.
Implementation Method 1
an auger bed which generally includes a frame, a trough portion with a bottom surface which has a selectively closeable opening, and augers disposed within the trough portion. The auger bed may automatically remove the unwanted crop material by reversing the direction of the augers and allowing the unwanted crop material to easily pass through the selectively closable opening.
Data Source
AI summary
An agricultural vehicle including at least one threshing rotor and an auger bed located underneath the at least one threshing rotor. The auger bed has a working position and a cleaning position. The auger bed includes a frame, a plurality of augers rotatably coupled to and supported by the frame, and a trough portion moveably connected to the frame. In the working position the bottom surface of the trough portion is positioned underneath the plurality of augers and in the cleaning position the entire trough portion is moved relative to the frame so that the bottom surface of the trough portion is not positioned underneath at least a portion of the plurality of augers, creating an open space underneath the portion of the plurality of augers for allowing an unwanted material to pass therethrough.