Agricultural header with linearly displaceable flex arms

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11375664-B2
Application number	US-201916686114-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 16, 2019
Priority date	Nov 16, 2019
Publication date	Jul 5, 2022
Grant date	Jul 5, 2022

Abstract

A header for an agricultural harvester includes: a header frame; a flexible cutterbar carried by the header frame; a plurality of flex arms coupled to the cutterbar; and a flex arm drive assembly coupled to at least one of the flex arms and configured to selectively, linearly displace the at least one coupled flex arm in a vertical direction relative to the header frame.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An agricultural harvester, comprising:
a chassis;
a controller; and
a header carried by the chassis, the header comprising:
a header frame;
a flexible cutterbar carried by the header frame;
a plurality of flex arms coupled to the cutterbar;
a flex arm drive assembly coupled to at least one of the flex arms and configured to selectively, linearly displace the at least one coupled flex arm in a vertical direction relative to the header frame, the flex arm drive assembly comprising:
at least one gear configured to rotate;
a gear rail engaged with the at least one gear and coupled to the at least one coupled flex arm; and
a motor coupled to the at least one gear and the controller and configured to selectively rotate the at least one gear, the controller being configured to output a gear motor drive signal to the motor to cause selective rotation of the at least one gear, wherein rotation of the at least one gear causes vertical displacement of the at least one coupled flex arm; and

a float sensor operably coupled to the controller and configured to output float signals corresponding to a clearance of at least a portion of the cutterbar relative to a ground plane, the controller being configured to determine a float adjustment by the at least one coupled flex arm to float at least the portion of the cutterbar at a defined level and output the gear motor drive signal to the motor to cause vertical displacement of at least the portion of the cutterbar by the float adjustment.

2. The agricultural harvester of claim 1 , wherein vertical displacement of the at least one coupled flex arm causes a corresponding vertical displacement of at least a portion of the cutterbar.

3. The agricultural harvester of claim 1 , wherein the flex arm drive assembly comprises a plurality of gears engaged with the gear rail.

4. The agricultural harvester of claim 3 , wherein the plurality of gears comprises a first gear and a second gear that are configured to counter-rotate.

5. The agricultural harvester of claim 4 , wherein the flex arm drive assembly comprises a first gear motor coupled to the first gear and configured to rotate the first gear clockwise and a second gear motor coupled to the second gear and configured to rotate the second gear counter-clockwise.

6. The agricultural harvester of claim 1 , further comprising a lift cylinder carried by the chassis, coupled to the header, and operably coupled to the controller, the controller being configured to determine that the determined float adjustment exceeds a defined vertical displacement of the flex arm drive assembly and output a header height control signal to the lift cylinder to cause vertical displacement of the header by the lift cylinder.

7. The agricultural harvester of claim 6 , further comprising a feeder house carried by the chassis and coupled to the lift cylinder, the header being coupled to the lift cylinder via connection to the feeder house.

Assignees

• Cnh Ind America Llc

Inventors

• Ricketts Jonathan E

Classifications

• A01D41/145 Primary

  Header lifting devices · CPC title

• A01D41/141 Primary

  Automatic header control · CPC title

• A01D34/243

  Mechanical lifting devices (A01D34/26 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A01D34/283

  Adjustment of the cutter bar in a vertical plane, i.e. to adjust the angle between the cutter bar and the soil · CPC title

• A01D34/04

  with cutters at the front · CPC title