A sieve assembly for use within an agricultural harvester may generally include a sieve, a crop material sheet, and at least one support element. The sieve extends along a length defined between a first sieve end and a second sieve end and processes a flow of harvested crop material. The sieve also defines a plurality of openings through which cleaned crop material of the flow of crop material is directed. The crop material sheet extends along a length defined between a first sheet end and a second sheet end and receives the cleaned crop material directed through the sieve's openings. The crop material sheet then directs the flow of cleaned crop material towards a separate component of the crop processing system. In addition, the support element(s) is directly coupled between the sieve and the crop material sheet and structurally connects the sieve to the crop material sheet.

A combine harvester is provided with a conveyance system for transporting crop material discharged by overhead grain separating apparatus to a grain cleaning shoe. The conveyance system comprises a series of oscillating pans which move the grain in a generally longitudinal direction. A return pan conveys the collected material forwardly to a front discharge edge from where the material falls onto a stratification pan below. The stratification pan conveys the collected material rearwardly to a rear discharge edge from where the material falls into the grain cleaning shoe. At least one of the return pan and the stratification pan is non-rectangular and has a non-transverse discharge edge.

In one example, a system for automatic control of the propulsive speed of a harvesting machine is provided. The system comprises a throughput sensor for determining an expected rate of crop harvested by the harvesting machine in dependence on a position of the harvesting machine and a conversion device configured to calculate a sequence of expected positions of the harvesting machine and, with the expected rate of crop harvested at a position of the harvesting machine, determine a predicted rate of crop harvested by the harvesting machine at the sequence of expected positions of the harvesting machine for use in an optimization problem. Further provided is a speed control device, configured to receive the data relating to the predicted rate of crop harvested at the sequence of expected positions in addition to at least one of data relating the operating state of the harvesting machine, cost function data or secondary condition data, to solve the optimization problem and generate at least one timewise successive sequence of speed commands for setting the propulsive speed of the harvesting machine; and an actuator configured to adjust the propulsive speed of the harvesting machine, the actuator receiving the first speed command of each sequence of speed commands and adjusting the propulsive speed of the harvesting machine.

Included is a combine having a feeder housing for receiving harvested crop, a separating system for threshing the harvested crop to separate grain from residue, a crop cleaning system including a cleaning fan powered by a fan drive to propel the residue into a residue system of the combine, at least one sensor for detecting an operational parameter of the fan drive, and a controller coupled to the at least one sensor. The controller is configured to determine a load on the fan drive from the detected operational parameter, compare the determined load to a load threshold, and control a speed of the cleaning fan based on the comparison.

A threshing apparatus 1 includes a threshing unit 41 that has a receiving net 23 and threshes crops, and a sorting unit 42 that is provided below the threshing unit 41 and sorts grain from a threshed product that has leaked from the receiving net 23. The sorting unit 42 includes a sorter 24 that sorts grain as a sorted product from the threshed product, a first product collector 26 that collects the sorted product as a first product, a second product collector 27 that collects, as a second product, the threshed product that was not sorted as the sorted product, a second product returner 32 that returns the second product collected by the second product collector 27 to the sorter 24, and a return amount detector 71 that detects the return amount of the second product to be returned to the sorter 24.

A cleaning and tailings system of an agricultural harvester including an upper sieve and a lower sieve spaced from the upper sieve. A clean grain sheet is disposed below the lower sieve, and a tailings sheet is disposed below the clean grain sheet for receiving grain from the lower sieve and upper sieve. A tailings auger is disposed about a forward end of the tailings sheet, and a sensor is disposed about an inlet of the tailings auger for sensing impact of grain received by the tailings sheet. A controller is in communication with the sensor, wherein the controller is configured to determine an amount of grain received by the tailings sheet.

A cleaning system of a combine harvester includes a fan, a first valve member positioned within a first duct of the fan for throttling the flow of air through the first duct, a second valve member positioned within the second duct of the fan for throttling the flow of air through the second duct, a first actuator for adjusting a position of the first valve member, a second actuator for adjusting a position of the second valve member, first and second sensors for sensing air pressure at first and second sieves, and a controller. The controller is configured to receive the sensed air pressures from the sensors, compare the sensed air pressures with either each other or threshold values, and transmit instructions to one or both of the actuators to adjust the positions of one or both of the valve members.

A cleaning system for a combine harvester includes a fan, at least one duct having an interior passageway that is positioned to receive an air stream from the fan, and a surface defined within the interior passageway of the at least one duct that is configured to restrict a volume of the flow of air passing through the at least one duct and increase a pressure of the air stream passing through the duct.

A combine harvester includes a header assembly configured for collecting a crop, a threshing assembly coupled to the header assembly and configured for separating grains of the crop from material other than grain, and a cleaning assembly positioned in association with the threshing assembly and configured for separating the grains from chaff. The cleaning assembly includes a fan assembly having a fan housing with a fan output duct and a fan mounted to the fan housing, and one or more cleaning sieves. The fan assembly is configured to blow air across the one or more cleaning sieves via the fan output duct. The fan output duct includes at least one segmented air deflector.

A cleaning mechanism of a combine harvester, for cleaning threshed and separated crop material, including a grain pan for receiving threshed and separated crop material and transporting the crop material rearwardly; a chaffer installed proximate the grain pan for receiving material from the grain pan where the chaffer includes a plurality of longitudinal channels with non-planar surfaces giving each channel a curved or trapezoidal cross section and at least two of the chaffer channels have an asymmetric non-planar surface with a greater part of the surface area facing the side portions of the chaffer; and a fan that causes an air flow through the chaffer to lift up discardable parts from the crop material and transport the discardable parts out of the combine harvester.