Hydraulic arrangement for a lifting unit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10253789-B2
Application number	US-201615150574-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 10, 2016
Priority date	Dec 4, 2013
Publication date	Apr 9, 2019
Grant date	Apr 9, 2019

Abstract

A hydraulic arrangement for lifting and/or lowering at least one implement carrying arm on an agricultural machine. The arrangement comprises an inlet hydraulic line and an outlet hydraulic line connecting a fluid pump and a fluid reservoir respectively to a first valve means, said arrangement comprising at least one dual acting hydraulic cylinder for lifting/and or lowering the implement carrying arm. The at least one cylinder is connected to the first valve means allowing the cylinder to be switched between a single acting mode wherein the arm can be lifted and a double acting mode wherein the arm can be lifted and lowered.

First claim

At least the following is claimed:

1. A combine harvester, comprising:
a chassis;
a feeder house mounted to the chassis;
a header mounted to the feeder house; and
a control system, comprising:
a pump;
a fluid reservoir;
a hydraulic cylinder comprising a cap-end port, a piston-end port, and a piston and rod assembly that is bi-directionally moveable between the cap-end and piston-end ports, the hydraulic cylinder affixed to the feeder house and arranged to cause a raising and lowering of the feeder house and the header; and
a cylinder circuit coupled to the cap-end and piston-end ports and switchably configurable between a first mode and a second mode of header raising operations, the cylinder circuit comprising:
a first multi-position valve coupled between an outlet of the pump and the cap-end port; and
a second multi-position valve coupled to the piston-end port,
wherein in the first mode, a first fluidic circuit is established between the pump, the multi-position valve in a first position, and the cap-end port, and the piston-end port, the second multi-position valve in a first position, and the fluid reservoir,
wherein in the second mode, a second fluidic circuit is established between the pump, the multi-position valve in the first position, and the cap-end port, and the piston-end port, the second multi-position valve in a second position, and the cap-end port;

a control circuit comprising:
a controller coupled to the cylinder circuit; and
a sensor coupled to the controller and configured to sense an operational parameter of the cylinder circuit, wherein the controller is automatically configured to cause a switching of the cylinder circuit between the first and second modes based on the operational parameter sensed by the sensor.

2. The combine harvester of claim 1 , wherein based on hydraulic fluid flow in the second fluidic circuit, the hydraulic cylinder causes the header to raise at a faster speed in the second mode than in the first mode.

3. The combine harvester of claim 1 , wherein based on hydraulic fluid flow in the first fluidic circuit, the hydraulic cylinder causes the header to raise with higher force in the first mode than in the second mode.

4. The combine harvester of claim 1 , wherein the operational parameter comprises pressure at the first port.

5. The combine harvester of claim 1 , wherein the second multi-position valve comprises an actuator, wherein the controller is automatically configured to cause the switching of the cylinder circuit by sending a signal to the actuator of the second multi-position valve.

6. A combine harvester, comprising:
a chassis;
a feeder house mounted to the chassis;
a header mounted to the feeder house; and
a control system, comprising:
a pump;
a fluid reservoir;
a hydraulic cylinder comprising a cap-end port, a piston-end port, and a piston and rod assembly that is bi-directionally moveable between the cap-end and piston-end ports, the hydraulic cylinder affixed to the feeder house and arranged to cause a raising and lowering of the feeder house and the header; and
a cylinder circuit coupled to the cap-end and piston-end ports and switchably configurable between a first mode and a second mode of header raising operations, the cylinder circuit comprising:
a first multi-position valve coupled between an outlet of the pump and the cap-end port; and
a second multi-position valve coupled to the piston-end port,
wherein in the first mode, a first fluidic circuit is established between the pump, the multi-position valve in a first position, and the cap-end port, and the piston-end port, the second multi-position valve in a first position, and the fluid reservoir,
wherein in the second mode, a second fluidic circuit is established between the pump, the multi-position valve in the first position, and the cap-end port, and the piston-end port, the second multi-position valve in a second position, and the cap-end port;

a control circuit comprising:
a controller coupled to the cylinder circuit; and
a first user interface, wherein the controller is configured to cause a switching of the cylinder circuit between the first and second modes based on operator input received at the first user interface.

7. The combine harvester of claim 6 , further comprising a second user interface and a sensor coupled to the controller, wherein the second user interface is configured to present an operational parameter sensed by the sensor prompting the receiving of the operator input.

8. The combine harvester of claim 7 , wherein the second user interface is configured to present the operational parameter visually, audibly, or a combination of visually and audibly.

9. The combine harvester of claim 6 , wherein the second multi-position valve comprises an actuator, wherein the controller is configured to cause the switching of the cylinder circuit by sending a signal to the actuator of the second multi-position valve.

10. The combine harvester of claim 1 , wherein the control system comprises another multi-port hydraulic cylinder coupled affixed to the feeder house and coupled to the cylinder circuit to enable a raising and lowering of the feeder house and the header.

11. A method of controlling a hydraulic header that is coupled to a feeder house of a combine harvester, the method comprising:
providing, by a pump, a flow of hydraulic fluid through a first plurality of components fluidly coupled together, wherein in a first mode, the first plurality of components comprises a pump, a first-multi-position valve, a cap-end port of a hydraulic cylinder, a piston-end port of the hydraulic cylinder, a second-multi-position valve in a first position, and a fluid reservoir, wherein the hydraulic cylinder is affixed to the feeder house;
providing, by the pump, a flow of hydraulic fluid through a second plurality of components fluidly coupled together, wherein in a second mode, the second plurality of components comprises the pump, the first-multi-position valve, the cap-end port of the hydraulic cylinder, the piston-end port of the hydraulic cylinder, the second-multi-position valve in a second position, and back to the cap-end port of the hydraulic cylinder, bypassing the fluid reservoir and combining with the flow from a discharge of the pump; and
switching between the first position and the second position to enable the switching between the first and second modes, wherein the header is raised by operation of the hydraulic cylinder according to the flow of the hydraulic fluid through the first plurality of components in the first mode and according to the flow of the hydraulic fluid through the second plurality of components in the second mode, wherein the switching occurs with operator intervention.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein based on the flow of the hydraulic fluid through the second plurality of components in the second mode, the hydraulic cylinder causes the header to raise at a faster speed in the second mode than in the first mode.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein based on the flow of the hydraulic fluid through the first plurality of components in the first mode, the hydraulic cylinder causes the header to raise with higher force in the first mode than in the second mode.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising a second hydraulic cylinder having plural ports and coupled to the hydraulic cylinder in a parallel configuration to receive the hydraulic fluid flows.

15. The combine harvester of claim 6 , wherein based on hydraulic fluid flow in the second fluidic circuit, the hydraulic cylinder causes the header to raise at a faster spee

Assignees

• Agco Int Gmbh
• Agco Corp

Inventors

• Brockmann Andreas

Classifications

• A01B63/10

  operated by hydraulic or pneumatic means · CPC title

• F15B2211/3058

  having additional valves for interconnecting the fluid chambers of a double-acting actuator, e.g. for regeneration mode or for floating mode · CPC title

• F15B2211/7053

  Double-acting output members · CPC title

• F15B11/08 Primary

  with only one servomotor · CPC title

• F15B2211/75

  Control of speed of the output member · CPC title