Stone trap assembly for a harvester

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9986687-B2
Application number	US-201515520583-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 20, 2015
Priority date	Oct 20, 2014
Publication date	Jun 5, 2018
Grant date	Jun 5, 2018

Abstract

A stone trap assembly including an entrance and an exit. The entrance receives objects from a crop flow path for accumulation into the assembly during a harvesting operation, and the exit allows evacuation of the accumulated foreign objects out of the assembly during an evacuation operation. The assembly further includes a door configured to be rotatable around a first rotation axis, substantially transverse to the crop flow path, for movement along a door movement trajectory between a closed position and an evacuation position, and an impeller for forcing the accumulated foreign objects towards the exit. The impeller is configured to be rotatable around a second rotation axis, substantially transverse to the crop flow path, for movement along an impeller movement trajectory between a retracted position and an extended position closer towards the exit. The door and impeller are separately movable during at least a part of the trajectories.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A stone trap assembly for a harvester, the stone trap assembly comprising:
an entrance configured to allow reception of foreign objects from a crop flow path for accumulation into the stone trap assembly during a harvesting operation;
an exit configured to allow evacuation of the accumulated foreign objects out of the stone trap assembly during an evacuation operation;
a door configured to be rotatable around a first rotation axis, substantially transverse to the crop flow path, for movement along a door movement trajectory between a closed position, in which the door closes off the exit; and an evacuation position; in which the door opens up the exit;
an impeller for forcing the accumulated foreign objects towards the exit, the impeller configured to be rotatable around a second rotation axis, substantially transverse to the crop flow path, for movement along an impeller movement trajectory between a retracted position and an extended position closer towards the exit; and
a drive assembly coupled to the door and the impeller, the drive assembly being configured to separately move the door and the impeller such that, during an initial phase of an evacuation operation, the impeller remains positioned at the retracted position until the door has moved along an initial range of the door movement trajectory at least partially from the closed position to the evacuation position.

2. The stone trap assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the first rotation axis coincides with the second rotation axis.

3. The stone trap assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the drive assembly is further configured to move the impeller along the impeller movement trajectory, at least partly from the retracted position to the extended position, during a subsequent phase of the evacuation operation.

4. The stone trap assembly according to claim 3 , wherein the drive assembly comprises a single actuator and a coupler; the actuator being directly coupled to the door and via the coupler to the impeller, the drive assembly being configured such that:
during the initial phase of the evacuation operation, the coupler keeps the impeller positioned in the retracted position while the actuator moves the door along the initial range of the door movement trajectory; and
during the subsequent phase of the evacuation operation, the coupler provides movement of the actuator to the impeller such that the impeller moves along the impeller movement trajectory, at least partly from the retracted position to the extended position, while the actuator continues the movement of the door towards the evacuation position along a subsequent range of the door movement trajectory.

5. The stone trap assembly according to claim 4 , wherein the coupler is configured to:
allow movement of the actuator along an initial range of an actuator movement trajectory, which provides the movement of the door during the initial range of the door movement trajectory; without imparting movement to the impeller; and
provide the movement of the actuator to the impeller during movement of the actuator along a subsequent range of the actuator movement trajectory which provides for the movement of the door along the subsequent range of the door movement trajectory.

6. The stone trap assembly according to claim 4 , wherein the coupler comprises:
a guide, coupled to the impeller and the actuator, and dimensioned to allow movement of the actuator with respect to the impeller during an initial range of an actuator movement trajectory;
a first stop coupled to the impeller and positioned such that, at a beginning of the initial range of the actuator movement trajectory, the actuator abuts this first stop, such that the impeller is held in its retracted position, when the door is in its closed position; and
a second stop coupled to the impeller and positioned such that, at an end of the initial range of the actuator movement trajectory, the actuator abuts this second stop, such that the movement of the impeller is imparted by the actuator during a subsequent range of movement.

7. The stone trap assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the drive assembly comprises a door actuator and an impeller actuator; the door actuator being coupled to the door and the impeller actuator being coupled to the impeller, the door actuator and the impeller actuator being configured to separately move respectively the door and the impeller during at least a part of the door movement trajectory or the impeller movement trajectory.

8. The stone trap assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the door or the impeller are movable by a rotating movement around a respective rotation axis transverse to the crop flow path.

9. The stone trap assembly according to claim 1 , further comprising a front wall and a back wall, both extending between the entrance and the exit, and extending longitudinally along a transverse direction transverse to the crop flow path, the front wall arranged upstream along the crop flow path with respect to the back wall.

10. The stone trap assembly according to claim 9 , wherein the impeller at least partly comprises the back wall.

11. A stone trap assembly for a harvester, the stone trap assembly comprising:
an entrance configured to allow reception of foreign objects from a crop flow path for accumulation into the stone trap assembly during a harvesting operation;
an exit configured to allow evacuation of the accumulated foreign objects out of the stone trap assembly during an evacuation operation;
a door configured to be rotatable around a first rotation axis, substantially transverse to the crop flow path, for movement along a door movement trajectory between a closed position, in which the door closes off the exit, and an evacuation position, in which the door opens up the exit;
an impeller for forcing the accumulated foreign objects towards the exit, the impeller configured to be rotatable around a second rotation axis, substantially transverse to the crop flow path, for movement along an impeller movement trajectory between a retracted position and an extended position closer towards the exit; and
a drive assembly coupled to the door and the impeller, the drive assembly being configured to independently actuate at least one of the door or the impeller relative to the other of the door or the impeller during at least a portion of the evacuation operation.

12. The stone trap assembly according to claim 11 , wherein the drive assembly is configured to independently actuate the door and the impeller such that, during an initial phase of the evacuation operation, the impeller remains positioned at the retracted position until the door has moved along an initial range of the door movement trajectory at least partially from the closed position to the evacuation position.

13. The stone trap assembly according to claim 11 , wherein the first rotation axis coincides with the second rotation axis.

14. The stone trap assembly according to claim 11 , wherein the drive assembly is further configured to move the impeller along the impeller movement trajectory, at least partly from the retracted position to the extended position, during a subsequent phase of the evacuation operation.

15. The stone trap assembly according to claim 14 , wherein the drive assembly comprises a single actuator and a coupler, the actuator being directly coupled to the door and via the coupler to the impeller, the drive assembly being configured such that:
during the initial phase of the evacuation operation, the coupler keeps the impeller positioned in the retracted position while the actuator move

Assignees

• Cnh Ind America Llc

Inventors

• Heyns Jolan
• Vanslambrouck Marijin
• Mattheeuws Gert
• De Coninck Willem

Classifications

• A01D75/00

  Accessories for harvesters or mowers · CPC title

• A01F12/16 Primary

  Safety devices · CPC title

• A01F12/00

  Parts or details of threshing apparatus (devices, other than safety devices for feeders, for protecting human beings A01D75/20, A01F21/00) · CPC title

• A01D75/18

  Safety devices for parts of the machines · CPC title

• A01D75/187

  Removing foreign objects · CPC title