CUTTING SYSTEM FOR A COMBINE HARVESTER

Abstract

The invention relates to a cutting system (1) for a combine harvester (2), having a support frame (3) for a cutting table (4), which has, on the cutting side, a cutting bar (6) which is fastened in an articulated manner to the support frame (3), is flexible transversely to the cutting direction (5) and can be adjusted in height with respect to the support frame (3) by means of a plurality of axle levers (7) which are arranged distributed over the width of the cutting system and engage at one end on the cutting bar (6) and at the other end on the support frame (3), wherein actuators (8) and thus the axle levers (7) with the cutting bar (6) can be actuated by a controller (12). In order to create advantageous cutting conditions, it is proposed that the cutting bar (6) is assigned a plurality of sensors (11) which are arranged in a distributed manner over the width of the cutting system, record the ground clearance of the cutting bar (6) and are provided in the cutting direction (5) in front of each axle lever (7) on the cutting bar (6), wherein the sensors (11) are skids (13) arranged on the bottom side of the cutting bar (6) for measuring the ground contact pressure of the respective skid (13) or for measuring the distance between the skid (13) and the cutting bar (6).

Claims

1. A cutting system for a combine harvester, said cutting system comprising: a support frame supporting a cutting table that has, on a cutting side, a cutting bar that is articulatedly connected to the support frame, that is flexible transversely to a cutting direction and that is adjusted in height with respect to the support frame by a plurality of axle levers that are distributed over a width of the cutting system and that have one end engaging with the cutting bar and at another end engaging with the support frame; the height being adjusted by actuators that are associated with the axle levers so as to provide for setting a ground clearance; wherein the actuators and the associated axle levers with the cutting bar are controlled by a controller that maintains the ground clearance at a predetermined ground clearance of the cutting bar over a width of the cutting bar; wherein the cutting bar is associated with a plurality of sensors that are arranged distributed over the width of the cutting system, that record the ground clearance of the cutting bar, and that are provided in the cutting direction in front of each axle lever on the cutting bar; and wherein the sensors are skids arranged on a bottom side of the cutting bar and each measure a ground contact pressure of the respective skid or a distance between the skid and the cutting bar.

2. The cutting system according to claim 1, wherein the axle levers are articulated parallelograms that have one end engaging with the cutting bar another end engaging with the support frame.

3. The cutting system according to claim 1, wherein the axle levers engage the cutting bar via compensating bearings with a pivot axis parallel to the cutting direction.

4. The cutting system according to claim 1, wherein the actuators engage the support frame and the axle lever.

5. The cutting system according to claim 1, and further comprising a cut material intake reel supported at distance from the cutting bar, said distance being adjusted by means of a height adjustment; wherein a position sensor is associated with the cut material intake reel, and wherein the controller controls the height adjustment and the cut material intake reel in such a way that a predetermined minimum distance between the cutting bar and the cut material intake reel is maintained.

6. The cutting system according to claim 5, wherein the height adjustment includes two serially connected hydraulic cylinders, each for a respective side of said cut material intake reel.

7. The cutting system according to claim 1, wherein the support frame with the cutting bar and actuators is guided longitudinally displaceably in the cutting direction on a base frame carrying a cut material intake device so as to set a cutting table length.

8. The cutting system according to claim 1, wherein the actuators include pneumatic cylinders or pneumatic bellows that are supported on the support frame and that engage one of the axle levers between a support frame bearing of said axle lever and the cutting bar.

9. The cutting system according to claim 8, wherein some of the actuators are on sides of one of the axle levers and are coupled via a bridge spanning the axle levers, wherein the bridge engages the associated axle lever.

10. The cutting system according to claim 2, wherein the axle levers engage the cutting bar via compensating bearings with a pivot axis parallel to the cutting direction.

11. The cutting system according to claim 2, wherein the actuators engage the support frame and the axle lever.

12. The cutting system according to claim 3, wherein the actuators engage the support frame and the axle lever.

13. The cutting system according to claim 10, wherein the actuators engage the support frame and the axle lever.

14. The cutting system according to claim 2, and further comprising a cut material intake reel supported at distance from the cutting bar, said distance being adjusted by means of a height adjustment; wherein a position sensor is associated with the cut material intake reel, and wherein the controller controls the height adjustment and the cut material intake reel in such a way that a predetermined minimum distance between the cutting bar and the cut material intake reel is maintained.

15. The cutting system according to claim 5, wherein the support frame with the cutting bar and actuators is guided longitudinally displaceably in the cutting direction on a base frame carrying a cut material intake device so as to set a cutting table length.

16. The cutting system according to claim 2, wherein the actuators include pneumatic cylinders or pneumatic bellows that are supported on the support frame and that engage one of the axle levers between a support frame bearing of said axle lever and the cutting bar.

17. The cutting system according to claim 3, wherein the actuators include pneumatic cylinders or pneumatic bellows that are supported on the support frame and that engage one of the axle levers between a support frame bearing of said axle lever and the cutting bar.

18. The cutting system according to claim 4, wherein the actuators include pneumatic cylinders or pneumatic bellows that are supported on the support frame and that engage one of the axle levers between a support frame bearing of said axle lever and the cutting bar.

19. The cutting system according to claim 5, wherein the actuators include pneumatic cylinders or pneumatic bellows that are supported on the support frame and that engage one of the axle levers between a support frame bearing of said axle lever and the cutting bar.

20. The cutting system according to claim 6, wherein the actuators include pneumatic cylinders or pneumatic bellows that are supported on the support frame and that engage one of the axle levers between a support frame bearing of said axle lever and the cutting bar.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0016] In the drawing, the subject matter of the invention is shown by way of example, wherein:

[0017] FIG. 1 shows a combine harvester with one cutting system in side view,

[0018] FIG. 2 shows a partially intersected side view of a cutting system according to the invention,

[0019] FIG. 3 shows an enlarged section of a cutting bar suspension of the cutting system from FIG. 2 in oblique view, and

[0020] FIG. 4 shows an enlarged section of the cutting bar suspension from FIG. 3 in oblique view.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0021] A cutting system 1 for a combine harvester 2 comprises a support frame 3 for a cutting table 4 which has, on the cutting side, a cutting bar 6 which is attached in an articulated manner to the support frame 3 and is flexible transversely with respect to the cutting direction 5. The cutting bar 6 is height-adjustable with respect to the support frame 3 by means of a plurality of axle levers 7 distributed over the width of the cutting system and engaging at one end on the cutting bar 6 and at the other end on the support frame 3. For the purpose of setting a ground clearance, the axle levers 7 are assigned actuators 8 with which the height position of the cutting bar 6 can be variably set with respect to the support frame 3 over the width of the cutting bar. Corresponding flexible transfer plates 10 are provided for transferring the material to be cut away from the cutting bar 6 to a cut material intake device 9.

[0022] The actuators 8 are formed in particular by pneumatic cylinders or pneumatic bellows, which on the one hand are supported on the support frame 3 and which on the other hand engage on an axle lever 7 between a support frame bearing and the cutting bar 6. For this purpose, actuators 8 are provided on both sides of the axle levers 7, which are coupled via a bridge spanning the axle levers 7, wherein the bridge engages on the associated axle lever 7. For the purpose of adjusting the cutting table length in the cutting direction, the support frame 3 can be guided longitudinally displaceably on a base frame carrying the cut material intake device 9. This means that the actuator can be integrated into a support frame 3 guided longitudinally displaceably on the base frame with a small space requirement, and the cutting table length can also be adjusted as desired within predetermined limits. Moreover, in the area of the cutting table, overlapping shingle-like transfer plates are provided for the cut material, which allow the length to be compensated.

[0023] According to the invention, the cutting bar 6 is assigned a plurality of sensors 11 which are distributed over the width of the cutting bar and record the ground clearance of the cutting bar 6. A controller 12 controls the actuating drives 8 and thus the axle levers 7 with the cutting bar 6 in such a way that a predetermined ground clearance a of the cutting bar 6 is maintained over the width of the cutting system.

[0024] The sensors 11, in particular weighing cells, are skids 13 arranged on the ground side of the cutting bar 6 and measure the ground contact pressure of the respective skid 13 or measure the distance between the skid 13 and the cutting bar 6. In the cutting direction 5, in each case at least one sensor 11 is provided on the cutting bar 6 in front of each axle lever 7.

[0025] The axle levers 7 are designed as articulated parallelograms which engage at one end on the cutting bar 6 and at the other end on the frame 3 and are mounted in corresponding bearing blocks. In addition, the axle levers 7 engage on the cutting bar 6 via compensating bearings 14 with a pivot axis parallel to the cutting direction 5, which cutting bar 6 is only shown very schematically in the figures. The actuators 8, for example hydraulic cylinders, engage on the one hand on the support frame 3 and on the other hand on the axle lever 7. The pivot position of the axle lever 7 can be detected with position sensors 15.

[0026] FIG. 2 shows a cutting system having a cut material intake reel 16, the distance of which from the cutting bar 6 can be adjusted by means of a height adjustment 17, wherein a position sensor 18 is associated with the material intake reel 16, and wherein the control 12 controls the height adjustment 17 and thus the cut material intake reel 16 in such a way that a predetermined minimum distance between cutting bar 6 and material intake reel 16 is maintained. The height adjustment 17 may comprise one or two hydraulic cylinders connected in series. If two hydraulic cylinders are provided, one takes over the coarse adjustment which can be preset by an operator and the other ensures the automatic position correction by means of the controller 12.