Rail interrupter

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11154013-B2
Application number	US-201916454315-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 27, 2019
Priority date	Jun 27, 2019
Publication date	Oct 26, 2021
Grant date	Oct 26, 2021

Abstract

A rotor assembly for harvesting a crop. The rotor assembly has a rotating portion defined along a rotation axis, a surrounding assembly at least partially surrounding the rotating portion, the surrounding assembly having at least one separation grate coupled to a support. The support defines an inner surface and has at least one interrupter receiver. The at least one interrupter receiver is selectively coupleable to an interrupter to position the interrupter radially inward of the inner surface towards the rotation axis.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A rotor assembly for harvesting a crop, comprising:
a rotating portion defined along a rotation axis;
a surrounding assembly at least partially surrounding the rotating portion, the surrounding assembly having at least one separation grate coupled to a support, where the support defines an inner surface and has a plurality of interrupter receivers positioned longitudinally along the support;
a first interrupter group comprising a base and at least one interrupter fixedly attached to the base, where the first interrupter group is configured to attach to any of the plurality of interrupter receivers;
wherein, when the first interrupter group is attached to a first interrupter receiver of the plurality of interrupter receivers then the at least one interrupter is located in a first position longitudinally along the support, and when the first interrupter group is attached to a second interrupter receiver of the plurality of interrupter receivers then the at least one interrupter is located in a second position longitudinally along the support, where the second position is different than the first position; and
further wherein, when the first interrupter group is attached to the first or second interrupter receiver in a first orientation then the at least one interrupter extends radially inward of the inner surface towards the rotation axis.

2. The rotor assembly of claim 1 , further wherein each of the plurality of interrupter receivers includes a slot defined through the support, wherein when the first interrupter group is attached to any one of the plurality of interrupter receivers in the first orientation then the at least one interrupter extends through the slot of the one interrupter receiver.

3. The rotor assembly of claim 1 , further wherein the at least one interrupter has a triangular or conical side profile.

4. The rotor assembly of claim 1 , further wherein the base of the first interrupter group is moveably coupled to one of the plurality of interrupter receivers, such that movement of the base of the first interrupter group relative to the one of the plurality of interrupter receivers moves the interrupter between a limited exposure position wherein the interrupter does not extend past the inner surface of the support towards the rotating portion and a full exposure position wherein the interrupter extends past the inner surface towards the rotating portion.

5. The rotor assembly of claim 4 , further comprising a solenoid that movably attaches the base of the first interrupter group to the one of the plurality of interrupter receivers.

6. The rotor assembly of claim 1 , further wherein when the interrupter group is attached to the first or second interrupter receiver in a second orientation then the at least one interrupter of the interrupter group extends radially outward away from the rotation axis.

7. The rotor assembly of claim 2 , further wherein each of the plurality of interrupter receivers includes a slot defined through the support, wherein when the interrupter group is attached to any of the plurality of interrupter receivers in a second orientation then the at least one interrupter does not extend through the slot.

8. The rotor assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of interrupter groups where the first interrupter group is one of the plurality of interrupter groups, each of the plurality of interrupter groups comprising a base and at least one interrupter fixedly attached to the base;
wherein each of the plurality of interrupter groups is attached to one of the plurality of interrupter receivers.

9. The rotor assembly of claim 8 , wherein the base of each of the plurality of interrupter groups includes a notch that limits the orientation of a first adjacent interrupter group relative to a second adjacent interrupter group when the first and second adjacent interrupter groups are attached to adjacent interrupter receivers of the plurality of interrupter receivers.

10. The rotor assembly of claim 8 , wherein each of the plurality of interrupter receivers includes a first attachment point and a second attachment point positioned adjacent to one another longitudinally along the support; and attachment of a particular interrupter group of the plurality of interrupter groups to a particular interrupter receiver of the plurality of interrupter receivers requires attachment of the base of the particular interrupter group to both the first and second attachment points of the particular interrupter receiver.

11. The rotor assembly of claim 8 , wherein each of the plurality of interrupter groups includes a plurality of interrupters fixedly attached to the base of the interrupter group.

12. The rotor assembly of claim 8 , wherein for each of the plurality of interrupter groups attached to one of the plurality of interrupter receivers in the first orientation, the plurality of interrupters extend radially inward of the inner surface towards the rotation axis; and
wherein for each of the plurality of interrupter groups attached to one of the plurality of interrupter receivers in a second orientation, the plurality of interrupters extend radially outward of the inner surface away from the rotation axis.

13. A harvested crop processing arrangement, comprising:
a support rail defining an inner surface, where the support rail includes a plurality of interrupter receivers positioned longitudinally along the support rail;
at least one grate coupled to the support rail at least partially about a rotation axis; and
an interrupter coupled to the support rail, where the interrupter is configured to attach to any of the plurality of interrupter receivers;
wherein, when the interrupter is coupled to a first interrupter receiver of the plurality of interrupter receivers then the at interrupter is located in a first position longitudinally along the support, and when the interrupter is coupled to a second interrupter receiver of the plurality of interrupter receivers then the interrupter is located in a second position longitudinally along the support, where the second position is different than the first position; and
wherein, when the interrupter is coupled to the support rail in a first orientation then at least a portion of the interrupter extends radially inward towards the rotation axis and past the inner surface of the support rail.

14. The crop processing arrangement of claim 13 , further wherein when the interrupter is coupled to the support rail in a second orientation then the interrupter extends radially outward away from the rotation axis and the inner surface.

15. The crop processing arrangement of claim 13 , further wherein the interrupter has a leading face that is substantially perpendicular to the inner surface when the interrupter is in the first orientation.

16. The crop processing arrangement of claim 15 , further wherein the interrupter has a trailing profile that extends from the leading face to the inner surface, wherein the trailing profile is not perpendicular to the inner surface.

17. The crop processing arrangement of claim 13 , further comprising a solenoid that couples the interrupter to the support rail, wherein the solenoid is configured to move the interrupter towards and away from rotation axis when the interrupter is in the first orientation.

18. A crop harvesting machine, comprising:
at least one ground engaging mechanism coupled to a frame;
a cutting head coupled to the frame and configured to cut crop from an underlying surface;
a crop processing arrangement coupled to the frame

Assignees

• Deere & Co

Inventors

• Brammeier Tyler S
• Meschke Michael T

Classifications

• A01F7/067 Primary

  with material-flow influencing means · CPC title

• A01F12/46

  Mechanical grain conveyors · CPC title

• A01D41/12

  Details of combines · CPC title

• A01F12/305 Primary

  combined with additional grain extracting means · CPC title

• A01D41/02

  Self-propelled combines · CPC title