Combine harvester with lateral motion of the grain pan

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10721865-B2
Application number	US-201615756340-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 26, 2016
Priority date	Aug 28, 2015
Publication date	Jul 28, 2020
Grant date	Jul 28, 2020

Abstract

A combine harvester includes one or more threshing rotors ( 5 ) mounted in the harvester, a grain pan ( 7 ) and a set of sieves ( 8 ), and a drive mechanism configured to drive a longitudinal reciprocating motion of the grain pan ( 7 ) and superimpose a lateral reciprocating motion component on the longitudinal reciprocating motion.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A combine harvester, comprising:
a threshing assembly comprising one or more threshing rotors mounted in the harvester;
a grain pan configured to:
receive a mixture of grains and chaff from the threshing assembly; and
undergo a reciprocating motion in a longitudinal direction of the harvester;

one or more sieves configured to:
receive a layer of grains and chaff from the grain pan; and
undergo a reciprocating motion in the longitudinal direction of the harvester;

a drive mechanism coupled to the grain pan and configured to drive the longitudinal reciprocating motion of the grain pan, and further configured to superimpose on said longitudinal reciprocating motion a lateral reciprocating motion component;
a plurality of sensors configured to measure a thickness of a grain portion of a stratified grain/chaff layer advancing on the grain pan towards an exit edge of the grain pan, said plurality of sensors being located in a vicinity of the exit edge and distributed at locations across a width of the grain pan; and
a control unit electrically coupled to said sensors and configured to receive input signals representative of one or more parameters related to operation of the combine harvester, said control unit being further configured to:
calculate a lateral motion component of the grain pan, as a function of said input signals, that minimizes a difference between the thickness of said grain portion of the grain/chaff layer measured by said plurality of sensors; and
send a control signal to said drive mechanism, commanding the drive mechanism to superimpose the calculated lateral motion component on said longitudinal reciprocating motion of the grain pan.

2. The combine harvester according to claim 1 , wherein the grain pan lacks partitions separated by dividers in the longitudinal direction of the harvester.

3. The combine harvester according to claim 1 , wherein the sieves are configured to undergo said reciprocating motion only in the longitudinal direction of the harvester.

4. The combine harvester according to claim 1 , wherein none of the one or more threshing rotors are mounted transversally to said longitudinal direction.

5. The combine harvester according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of said sensors comprises a support structure and a plurality of sensor elements mounted as a stack of sensor elements on the support structure, the sensor being configured to be mounted on the grain pan so that during use at least a portion of the stack of sensor elements is buried in or in close proximity to the grain/chaff layer, the sensor elements being configured to measure an electrical property that changes as a function of an immediate surroundings of the sensor elements, wherein the sensor elements are furthermore configured to be read out independently from each other.

6. The combine harvester according to claim 5 , wherein the sensor elements are capacitive sensor elements or eddy current sensor elements.

7. The combine harvester according to claim 6 , wherein the sensor elements are cylindrical in shape or flat in shape.

8. The combine harvester according to claim 6 , wherein the sensor elements are capacitive sensor elements, comprising a first electrically conducting plate, a second electrically conducting plate, and a dielectric element located between and in contact with the plates, wherein the plates are mounted in the same vertical plane when the at least one of said sensors is placed on a horizontal surface.

9. The combine harvester according to claim 5 , wherein the support structure is a flat element configured to be mounted upright, and wherein the sensor elements are attached to or incorporated in the flat element.

10. The combine harvester according to claim 5 , wherein the support structure consists of or comprises a PCB board incorporating wiring connected to or connectable to the sensor elements and connected to or connectable to read-out means and power means for reading out and supplying power to the sensor elements.

11. The combine harvester according to claim 10 , wherein the sensor elements are themselves incorporated in the PCB board.

12. The combine harvester according to claim 5 , wherein the at least one of said sensors is configured to measure the thickness of a grain/chaff layer comprising a particular type of grain, wherein a size of the sensor elements essentially corresponds to an average size of said particular type of grain.

13. The combine harvester according to claim 1 , wherein said one or more threshing rotors is mounted in said longitudinal direction of said harvester.

Assignees

• Cnh Ind America Llc

Inventors

• Duquesne Frank R G
• Hillen Curtis
• Snauwaert Paul E M

Classifications

• A01D41/1276 Primary

  for cleaning mechanisms · CPC title

• A01F12/446 Primary

  Sieving means · CPC title

• A01F12/448

  Sieve adjusting means · CPC title

• A01F12/18

  Threshing devices · CPC title

• A01F12/32

  with shaker screens or sieves · CPC title