Ring Elevator Variable Strip Spacing for Root Crop Harvester Capacity
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The ring elevator in root crop harvesters is a bottleneck in achieving desired capacity due to weight limitations and the inability to increase capacity without compromising root crop quality, as additional spreading devices are heavy and accelerating the elevator would affect crop quality.
Innovation Solution
A ring elevator design with adjustable strip distances to maximize the useful volume for root crop carrying, where the flexible support elements form baskets that take up at least 50% of the total volume, allowing for increased capacity without additional weight or quality compromise, and featuring an increasing zone to fill baskets before the ascending part and a slanted unloading zone to reduce conveyor belt usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the depth of the ring elevator is increased to increase capacity, then the volume for root crop carrying is improved, but additional spreading devices are required which increase weight and complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The ring elevator employs variable strip spacing where the distance between carrying strips dynamically changes along the elevation path. The strips are closer together at the bottom for compact configuration and spread apart in the upper carrying section to maximize basket volume and useful volume percentage, eliminating the need for additional spreading devices while maintaining increased capacity
Solution Approach 2:
The geometric parameters of the ring elevator are optimized by varying the strip spacing parameter along the path. The carrier distance between strips is increased in the ascending portion to expand basket capacity, while the useful volume is maintained at least 50% of total volume through controlled parameter variation, achieving capacity increase without additional equipment
2Productivity
If the ring elevator is accelerated to increase capacity, then productivity is improved, but the quality of root crops is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of increasing speed in the time dimension, the invention increases capacity by utilizing the spatial dimension more effectively. The variable strip spacing creates larger basket volumes in the vertical and radial dimensions, allowing more root crops to be carried per cycle without increasing elevation speed, thus maintaining crop quality while improving productivity
3Productivity
If additional spreading devices are added to distribute root crops over full depth, then the useful volume is improved, but the weight of the machine increases
Solution Approach 1:
The ring elevator structure itself performs the spreading function through its variable geometry. The carrying strips automatically spread apart to form larger baskets in the upper section, and the flexible support elements naturally distribute root crops throughout the available volume. This self-spreading mechanism eliminates the need for separate powered spreading devices, maintaining useful volume while avoiding additional weight
Solution Approach 2:
The ring elevator serves multiple functions simultaneously: it elevates root crops, forms baskets through variable strip spacing, distributes crops throughout the volume, and maintains structural compactness. This multi-functionality consolidates what would traditionally require separate spreading devices into the elevator structure itself, achieving full depth utilization without additional weight
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein is a ring elevator for lifting root crops in a root crop harvester, includinga first and a second pair of endless carrying strips, each pair arranged in parallel and drivable over a closed path;first and second parallel transverse elements attached between and to, respectively, the first and second strips;flexible support elements, each attached to a first transverse element and to a second transverse element.The first strips can be arranged around the second strips at a distance which varies along the paths between a minimum distance (dmin) and a maximum distance (dmax), and in an ascending part equals a carrier distance (c), such that the flexible support elements form baskets for receiving the root crops. The useful volume (Vu) in the baskets takes up at least 50% of the total volume (Vt) delimited by the transverse elements.