Crop residue spreader

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9949434-B2
Application number	US-201615286288-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 5, 2016
Priority date	Oct 5, 2015
Publication date	Apr 24, 2018
Grant date	Apr 24, 2018

Abstract

A crop residue spreader including at least one impeller, at least one radial housing, and at least one blower outlet opening. The at least one radial housing includes a crop residue outlet opening. The at least one impeller is configured to be rotatably driven around a rotation axis such that a crop residue flow is ejected through the crop residue outlet opening of the at least one radial housing, such that the crop residue flow is converted from an incoming crop residue flow into a wider outgoing crop residue flow. The at least one separate blower outlet opening is separate from the crop residue outlet opening of the at least one radial housing. The at least one blower outlet opening is configured to provide an outgoing airflow to accelerate the crop residue flow.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A crop residue spreader comprising:
at least one impeller;
at least one radial housing comprising a crop residue outlet opening, the at least one impeller positioned to be rotatably driven around a rotation axis such that a crop residue flow is ejected through the crop residue outlet opening of the at least one radial housing, and such that the crop residue flow is converted from an incoming crop residue flow into a wider outgoing crop residue flow;
at least one separate blower outlet opening, separate from the crop residue outlet opening of the at least one radial housing, the at least one separate blower outlet opening positioned to provide an outgoing airflow to accelerate the crop residue flow; and
wherein the at least one impeller comprises two or more impeller blades positioned to impact the incoming crop residue flow in an axial crop residue impact zone when rotatably driven around the rotation axis, the axial crop residue impact zone extending along a direction of the rotation axis between a first axial impact zone limit and an opposing second axial impact zone limit; and
the at least one separate blower outlet opening extending, along the direction of the rotation axis, at least partly in the axial crop residue impact zone.

2. The crop residue spreader according to claim 1 , wherein the outgoing airflow out of the at least one separate blower outlet opening is configured to accelerate:
the incoming crop residue flow in a direction towards the crop residue outlet opening; or
the outgoing crop residue flow in a direction away from the crop residue outlet opening.

3. The crop residue spreader according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one separate blower outlet opening extends in the axial crop residue impact zone over 50% of a distance between the first impact zone limit and the opposing second impact zone limit.

4. The crop residue spreader according to claim 1 , wherein:
the two or more impeller blades of the impeller are further configured to impact the incoming crop residue flow in a radial crop residue impact zone when rotatably driven around the rotation axis, the radial crop residue impact zone extending radially with respect to the rotation axis between an impact zone minimum radius and an impact zone maximum radius; and
the at least one separate blower outlet opening is arranged, radially with respect to the rotation axis, out of the radial crop residue impact zone.

5. The crop residue spreader according to claim 4 , wherein:
the first and second axial impact zone limits of the axial crop residue impact zone respectively correspond to a level of outer edges of the impeller blades along the direction of the rotation axis; and
the impact zone minimum radius and the impact zone maximum radius, respectively correspond to a minimum radial distance between the rotation axis and a proximate side of the impeller blades and to a maximum radial distance between the rotation axis and a distal side of the impeller blades.

6. The crop residue spreader according to claim 4 , wherein the at least one separate blower outlet opening is arranged at a distance with respect to the rotation axis which is smaller than the impact zone minimum radius.

7. The crop residue spreader according to claim 6 , wherein the crop residue spreader further comprises one or more separate blowers coupled to a separate blower outlet opening, the one or more separate blowers comprising a radial blower housing and a plurality of blower vanes configured to be rotatably driven around a rotation axis aligned with the rotation axis of the at least one impeller, the radial blower housing comprising the at least one separate blower outlet opening.

8. The crop residue spreader according to claim 7 , wherein the at least one impeller further comprises an impeller disc comprising an airflow inlet opening for an incoming airflow at a side distal from the incoming crop residue flow along the direction of the rotation axis, and wherein the blower vanes are arranged on the impeller disc.

9. The crop residue spreader according to claim 1 , wherein the crop residue spreader further comprises one or more separate blowers coupled to the at least one separate blower outlet opening, the at least one impeller and the one or more separate blowers being rotatably driven by a common drive.

10. The crop residue spreader according to claim 4 , wherein the at least one separate blower outlet opening is arranged at a distance with respect to the rotation axis which is greater than the impact zone maximum radius.

11. The crop residue spreader according to claim 1 , wherein the crop residue spreader further comprises one or more separate blowers coupled to the at least one separate blower outlet opening by a blower outlet channel configured to couple the at least one separate blower opening to a source of the outgoing airflow.

12. The crop residue spreader according to claim 1 , further comprising at least one pair of impellers configured to be counter-rotated such that the incoming crop residue flow is converted into the wider outgoing crop residue flow.

13. A harvester comprising the crop residue spreader according to claim 1 , the harvester comprising at least one upstream crop processing element, wherein the crop residue spreader is configured to receive the incoming crop residue flow from the at least one upstream crop processing element of the harvester.

14. A crop residue spreader comprising:
at least one impeller;
at least one radial housing comprising a crop residue outlet opening, the at least one impeller positioned to be rotatably driven around a rotation axis such that a crop residue flow is ejected through the crop residue outlet opening of the at least one radial housing, and such that the crop residue flow is converted from an incoming crop residue flow into a wider outgoing crop residue flow;
at least one separate blower having an inlet outside the crop residue flow and an outlet opening, separate from the crop residue outlet opening of the at least one radial housing, the at least one separate blower outlet opening positioned to provide an outgoing airflow to accelerate the crop residue flow and wherein the outgoing airflow out of the at least one separate blower outlet opening is positioned to accelerate the incoming crop residue flow on a direction towards the crop residue outlet opening; or the outgoing crop residue flow in a direction away from the crop residue outlet opening.

Assignees

• Cnh Ind America Llc

Inventors

• Baes Frederik
• Vandergucht Yvan C C

Classifications

• A01F12/48

  Air conduits or blowers for grain · CPC title

• A01D41/1243 Primary

  Devices for laying-out or distributing the straw · CPC title

• A01C3/06 Primary

  Manure distributors, e.g. dung distributors · CPC title