Round Baler Feed Rotor and Storage Chamber for Continuous Intake
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing round balers interrupt crop intake for significant periods during the binding and ejection process, significantly impacting productivity and requiring complex solutions that have not been developed for series production readiness.
Innovation Solution
A round baler design featuring a transfer device with a transfer rotor and a storage device with a storage conveyor, allowing for continuous crop intake by temporarily storing harvested material in a storage chamber connected to the feed channel, enabling uninterrupted processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a traditional round baler processes crop continuously through the press chamber, then productivity is maximized during operating time, but the machine must stop for binding and ejection which takes up about a third of total operating time
Solution Approach 1:
The storage chamber receives and stores harvested crop material before the press chamber is needed, allowing the press chamber to be prepared for the next baling cycle while the current bale is being bound and ejected. This preliminary storage action eliminates the stop-start nature of traditional operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The storage chamber acts as an intermediary between the crop intake system and the press chamber, decoupling the continuous crop reception from the periodic baling cycles. This intermediary allows material to be held temporarily while the press chamber undergoes binding and ejection operations.
2Loss of time
If an intermediate storage unit is added to enable continuous crop intake, then downtime is reduced, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The storage chamber serves multiple functions: it stores harvested crop material, receives material from the feed channel during baling operations, and releases material to the press chamber when ready. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate dedicated components for each function.
Solution Approach 2:
The storage chamber is integrated with the feed channel and press chamber system, merging the storage function into the existing structural framework rather than adding a completely separate complex unit. The chamber shares spatial and operational constraints with the existing components.
3Productivity
If a storage chamber is integrated with the feed channel, then crop flow is optimized and downtime is eliminated, but the design requires precise coordination of transfer operations
Solution Approach 1:
The transfer rotor is designed to rotate in different directions (chamber feed direction and storage feed direction) depending on the operational mode, dynamically adapting its function to either move crop to the press chamber or redirect it to the storage chamber. This dynamic operation simplifies coordination compared to multiple fixed transfer mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The transfer rotor serves as a universal transfer mechanism that performs both chamber feed and storage feed functions by changing rotation direction, eliminating the need for separate dedicated transfer devices for each direction and reducing overall coordination complexity.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
The present invention relates to a round baler (1) comprising a feed channel (6) leading to a press chamber (55), a transfer device (20) with a transfer rotor (21) which can be driven about a transfer axis (B) in a chamber feed direction (K) in order to convey crop material through the feed channel (6) towards the press chamber (55) in a press mode, and a storage device (30) with a storage space (32) for temporarily receiving crop material, which is connected to the feed channel (6) via at least one storage opening (33).To provide improved means that enable a round baler to continuously take in crop material, the invention provides that the storage device (30) has a storage wall (31) that limits the storage space (32) externally, and a driven storage conveyor (34) for circulating the crop material within the storage space (32), wherein the transfer rotor (21) is configured to, in a storage mode, rotate in a storage feed direction (S) opposite to the chamber feed direction (K), guide crop material from the feed channel (6) towards the storage space (32) for intermediate storage, and in baling mode convey crop material discharged from the storage device (30) through the feed channel (6) towards the baling chamber (55).