Conveyor roller set and harvesting machine

Abstract

A set of conveyor rollers for use in agricultural machines, especially those of the stalk and tall plants harvester type, including front elements arranged in an independent front platform. The conveyor roller set includes a front aperture (6) for receiving the harvested material (MC) from a platform (P), the set including at least one upper roller (20a) and at least one lower roller (20b) disposed in the platform (A), wherein the upper conveyor roller (20a) has a diameter (D) greater than the diameter (d) of the lower conveyor roller (20b).

Claims

1. A conveyor roller set for an agricultural machine comprising a front aperture for receiving harvested material from a header, the conveyor roller set comprising: at least one upper roller; and at least one lower roller disposed in the header, wherein the at least one upper roller includes a first upper conveyor roller with a diameter greater than a diameter of the at least one lower conveyor roller, and wherein the first upper conveyor roller is close to a last conveyor roller of the header thereby eliminating a space regardless of an inclination of a frame of the header.

2. The conveyor roller set according to claim 1, wherein the at least one upper roller comprises a plurality of upper rollers, and wherein the at least one lower roller comprises a plurality of lower rollers, wherein the first upper conveyor roller has a diameter greater than diameters of the plurality of upper rollers and the plurality of lower rollers.

3. The conveyor roller set according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of upper rollers are floatingly mounted through apertures, including an aperture responsible for a floating support of the first upper conveyor roller with an angular configuration discordant from a flow of the harvested material.

4. The conveyor roller set according to claim 3, wherein the apertures have a wedge configuration.

5. The conveyor roller set according to claim 1, wherein the first upper conveyor roller comprises a diameter which is 35 to 55% greater than a diameter of the at least one lower roller.

6. The conveyor roller set according to claim 5, wherein the diameter of the first upper conveyor roller is approximately 46% greater than the diameter of the at least one lower conveyor roller.

7. The conveyor roller set according to claim 1, wherein diameters of the at least one upper and the at least one lower rollers and a diameter of the first upper conveyor roller have a ratio of 1:1.4.

8. The conveyor roller set according to claim 1, wherein the first upper conveyor roller comprises a diameter around 306 mm, and the at least one lower roller comprises a diameter around 210 mm.

9. The conveyor roller set according to claim 1, wherein the upper and lower rollers are mounted directly on a chassis of the agricultural machine.

10. The conveyor roller set according to claim 1, wherein the upper and lower rollers are mounted in an independent module which is to be connected to the agricultural machine.

11. A harvesting machine comprising: a self-propelled structure configured to move forward on a ground surface and including a front end and a cavity behind it defining an inlet aperture; a billet cutter configured to cut stalks or canes into billets; an upwardly and rearwardly extending lift conveyor, loaded in the frame and configured to convey the cut stalks or canes to the billet cutter; and a conveyor roller set disposed in the cavity defined between the inlet aperture and the lift conveyor, the conveyor roller set configured to transport a flow of harvested stalks, to gather the harvested stalks into a bundle, and to transport the bundle to the lift conveyor, to be transported to the billet cutter, the conveyor roller set including: at least one upper roller; and at least one lower roller disposed in the aperture of the agricultural machine, wherein the at least one upper roller includes a first upper conveyor roller which has a diameter greater than a diameter of the at least one lower roller, and wherein the first upper conveyor roller is close to a last conveyor roller of a header thereby eliminating a space at the inlet aperture.

12. The harvesting machine according to claim 11, wherein the harvesting machine is adapted for harvesting sugarcane or sweet sorghum.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The characteristics, advantages and technical effects of the present invention, as set forth above, will be better understood from the following detailed description, taken by way of example, and not restrictive, of embodiments, and with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings, wherein:

(2) FIG. 1A is a schematic side view of a sugarcane harvesting machine associated with a harvesting platform;

(3) FIG. 1B is also a schematic partial side view showing the inner elements of a harvesting machined associated to a platform, as illustrated and shown in FIG. 1A;

(4) FIGS. 2A and 2B show side cross-sectional views of the front portion of a state-of-the-art harvesting machine, as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, especially the arrangement of the header rollers and the set of conveyor rollers at the inlet aperture of the harvesting machined;

(5) FIGS. 3A and 3B show a schematic representation similar to FIGS. 2A and 2B, but with the representation of a conveyor roller set at the inlet aperture of the harvesting machine, according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

(6) FIG. 4 shows an enlarged side view of the inlet aperture of a harvesting machine containing the conveyor roller set according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(7) The particular embodiments of the invention are described herein with reference to the appended figures. These figures are schematic and their sizes and/or proportions may not correspond to reality, given that they aim at describing the invention in a didactic manner. Moreover, certain known and common constructive details may have been omitted for greater clarity and conciseness of the description which follows. The used reference numerals are repeated throughout the figures to identify identical or similar parts. Possibly used terms as: above, below, front, back, left, etc. and their variations must be construed according to the guidance provided in FIG. 2.

(8) FIG. 1A shows a schematic representation of an agricultural machine (A) of the sugarcane harvester type. Although the present specification relates to a sugar cane harvester, it is clear that the machine may also be employed for the harvesting of other stalk (S) and tall plants such as sorghum. A harvesting machine (A) may be, for instance, a machine known in the state of the art, made available by CNH Industrial N.V. marketed under the trademark Case IH.

(9) Basically, the harvesting machine (A) includes a chassis (E) mounted on wheels (R) or belts, a drive motor (M), an operation and control cabin (C), a primary cleaning extractor system (L), a billet (T) conveyor with secondary cleaning extractor system (not shown) transferring the billets for, for instance, an overboard baskets or hopper (not shown). Moreover, the harvesting machine (A) is configured to receive a header (P) which is engaged and secured to the front portion of the machine and supports the front elements to promote the cutting of the plants. The machine moves over the ground in a harvesting direction, as represented by arrow (D).

(10) Referring to FIG. 1B, it is noted that a header (P) basically includes a frame 1 which supports row dividers 2, dumper roller 3, lift rollers 4 and base cutting discs 5, (A), in particular, at the inlet aperture 6 of the machine (A). In the inlet aperture 6, there is provided a set of conveyor rollers 10, responsible for dragging and transporting the harvested material (MC) towards the lift roller set 11 to promote the passage of the harvested material (MC) through the chopping rollers 12, which cut the harvested material, such as sugar cane and sweet sorghum, into billets (T), and by the primary extractor system (L) whose purpose is extracting and separating the leaves and small dirt lighter than billets (T). The billets are then conveyed to a secondary lift and extractor (not shown) prior to being unloaded in a hopper or overflow basket, for instance.

(11) A harvester and header as above are described in greater detail, for instance, in US 2014/0174048 and BR 10 2015 0159226, respectively, both incorporated as a reference for the present invention.

(12) FIGS. 2A and 2B show side cuts in schematic representations of the front portion of the harvesting machine (A), in the region of the connection of the frame 1 of the front header (P) to the machine inlet aperture 6. The set of rollers 10 usually consists of a set of pairs of upper and lower conveyor rollers 10, 10, 10, all rollers comprising the same diameter. The pairs of rollers are arranged sequentially one behind the other in a vertically shifted manner, that is, without the upper rollers being arranged directly on and vertically aligned with the lower rollers, taking as a reference a vertical line relative to the center of the rollers.

(13) In addition, the upper rollers 10a, 10a, 10a are mounted to the chassis (E) of the harvesting machine (A) in a floating condition through wedge-shaped apertures 13 in the same direction of the flow of the material. In this configuration, as shown in FIG. 2B, when the header (P) is connected to the chassis (E) of the harvesting machine (A), a space (X) is formed between the pair of lift rollers 4, 4 of header (P) and the first upper roller 10a of the first pair of rollers 10 of the set of conveyor rollers 10 provided at the inlet aperture 6 of the machine (A). As mentioned above, this space (X) allows harvested material (MC) to deviate out of the conveyor roller set 10 and, as a result, may cause the machine to jam and/or block during harvesting, not mentioning the possible loss of harvested material.

(14) Within this context, the present invention relates to a set of conveyor rollers 20, which is intended for application in an agricultural machine having a front aperture 6 for receiving the harvested material (MC) from the header (P), the roller set consisting of at least one upper roller 20a and at least one lower roller 20b, which are arranged in the inlet aperture 6 of the agricultural machine (A). More particularly, the first upper conveyor roller 20a comprises a larger diameter (D) than the diameter (d) of the lower conveyor roller 20b.

(15) According to one embodiment of the present invention, in order to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art, and with particular reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B, the conveyor roller set 20 comprises a sequence of upper rollers 20a and a sequence of lower rollers 20b, which are arranged at the inlet aperture 6 of the chassis (E) of a harvesting machine (A), wherein first upper conveyor roller 20a comprises a diameter (D) greater than the diameter (d) of the plurality of upper 20a and lower 20b conveyor rollers, and thereby achieve an increase in the tangential velocity of the first upper conveyor roller 20a, improving the material flow and increasing the feeding capacity of the harvested material (MC).

(16) According to a possible embodiment of the present invention, the upper conveyor rollers 20a, 20a are floatingly mounted through apertures 21 and 21, wherein aperture 21, supporting the first upper conveyor roller 20a, comprises a discordant angular configuration, that is, against the material flow (MC) or, in the representation of FIGS. 3A and 3B, clockwise. Preferably, the configuration of the apertures 21, 21 is wedge-shaped, providing vertical and angular movement of the upper rollers 20a and 20a.

(17) As shown in FIG. 3B, it is noted that when the frame 1 of the header (P) is mounted in the front portion of the harvesting machine (A), the first upper conveyor roller 20a is close to the last conveyor roller 4 of the header (P), thereby eliminating the space (X) previously created, regardless of the inclination of the frame (1) of the header (P).

(18) Furthermore, according to one embodiment of the present invention, the first upper conveyor roller 20a has a diameter (D) which is 35 to 55% greater than the diameter (d) of the lower conveyor roller 20b. The diameter (D) of the first upper conveyor roller 20a can be approximately 45% greater than the diameter (d) of the lower conveyor roller 20b. Within this context, it can be the that the diameter (d) of the conveyor rollers 20a, 20b and the diameter (D) of the first upper conveyor roller 20a respect a ratio of 1:1.4.

(19) According to one embodiment of the present invention, the first upper conveyor roller 20a comprises a diameter (D) of about 306 mm, while the lower conveyor roller 20b comprises a diameter (d) of about 210 mm.

(20) As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the conveyor roller assembly 20 may be mounted and installed directly in the chassis (E) of the harvesting machine (A) or, optionally, comprise a module that is engageable in the chassis (E), that is, an independent module which can be connected in the harvesting machine, as well as the front header (P) and, thereby, obtain a harvesting machine capable of being configured.

(21) Finally, and as mentioned above, the present invention also relates to an agricultural machine, such as a harvesting machine (A), which is comprised of a self-propelled structure configured to move forward along a ground surface and including a front end and a cavity behind it defining an inlet aperture; a billet cutter configured to cut the stalks or canes into billets, and an upwardly and rearwardly extending lift conveyor loaded in the frame and configured to convey the cut stalks or canes to the billet cutter. It further has a set of conveyor rollers disposed in the cavity comprised between the inlet aperture and the lift conveyor, the conveyor roller set being configured to convey the flow of the harvested stalks or canes gathered in a bundle and, thereby, to transport it to the billet cutter, the assembly comprising at least one upper roller (20a) and at least one lower roller (20b), which are arranged at the inlet aperture (6) of the agricultural machine (A), the first upper conveyor roller (20a) having a diameter (D) greater than the diameter (d) of the lower conveyor roller (20b).

(22) The harvesting machine (A) can be used for harvesting sugarcane and/or sweet sorghum

(23) Therefore, considering all of the above, it should be clear that through the conveyor roller set, properly installed in harvesting machines (A), according to the present invention, it becomes possible to obtain a very high productive agricultural apparatus, with aiming at eliminating the risks of clogging and blocking the conveyor rollers, as well as improving the material flows, significantly raising feeding capacity, with a view to eliminating possible spaces conducive to deflecting the flow and increasing the peripheral speed of the first upper conveyor roller.

(24) Finally, in view of all of the foregoing, it is to be stressed that the present description has the only purpose of outlining and defining in an exemplary manner preferred embodiments of the conveyor roller set applied in agricultural machines according to the present invention. Thus, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, various modifications and combinations of elements and equivalent details are possible without departing from the scope of protection defined by the appended claims.