Shakeable Conveyor for Uniform Crop Flow
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing agricultural harvesters face efficiency issues due to non-uniform crop material flow rates, which can overwhelm or underutilize harvester systems, affecting overall harvesting efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A cleaning system for an agricultural harvester featuring an endless conveyor assembly with a conveyor frame, a shaker, and a conveyor driver that can selectively rotate the conveyor loop, allowing for adjustable crop material transport and stratification.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a conventional conveyor system is used to transport crop material, then the structure is simple, but the crop material flow rate becomes non-uniform which overwhelms or underutilizes the harvester system
Solution Approach 1:
The conveyor assembly is made dynamically adjustable through the conveyor driver mechanism that can selectively rotate the conveyor loop at different speeds and in different directions. This dynamic control allows the system to adapt to varying crop material flow conditions, maintaining uniform flow rates and preventing system overload or underutilization, thereby resolving the contradiction between productivity and reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the operational parameters of the conveyor loop by selectively rotating it at variable speeds and directions through the conveyor driver. This parameter adjustment capability allows optimization of crop material transport to match downstream processing capacity, ensuring uniform flow rates that maintain both high productivity and system reliability
2Reliability
If the conveyor driver selectively rotates the conveyor loop for positive transport, then the crop material flow uniformity improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The conveyor assembly is designed with multi-functionality, serving both as a shaking grain pan when the conveyor driver is inactive and as a positively transporting conveyor when the driver rotates the loop. This universal design allows a single assembly to perform multiple functions without requiring separate systems, thereby improving flow uniformity while minimizing the increase in device complexity
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 conveyor assembly effectively manages crop material flow by acting as a shaking grain pan when not rotating and providing positive transport when rotating, thereby maintaining a steady feed rate to the cleaning system, enhancing harvesting efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
a shaker coupled to the conveyor frame and configured to shake the conveyor frame
Data Source
AI summary
A cleaning system for an agricultural harvester includes: at least one sieve; a cleaning blower directed at the at least one sieve and configured to supply a cleaning air flow directed at the at least one sieve; and a conveyor assembly configured to supply crop material to the at least one sieve. The conveyor assembly includes: a conveyor frame; a shaker coupled to the conveyor frame and configured to shake the conveyor frame; and an endless conveyor carried by the conveyor frame and including a conveyor loop with a substantially solid surface and a conveyor driver coupled to the conveyor loop, the conveyor driver being configured to selectively rotate the conveyor loop.