The present invention concerns a harvesting machine,
in particular a combine harvester.
A combine harvester usually has a diesel engine as
its main drive, which supplies mechanical drive
15 power via a transfer case on the one hand to a chassis and on the other hand to crop processing equipment such as a harvesting attachment and a threshing
unit.
20 The crop processing equipment can be blocked, for
example, if the harvesting attachment picks up
stones or if crop is picked up faster than it can be
processed. If, in order to remove the blockage, the
driver has to stop the combine, get out of the cab,
25 find a blocked area and remove the blocking material,
this will result in considerable loss of time in the
harvesting operation.
US 7 520 113 B2 reveals a combine harvester in which
30 a harvesting attachment and a crop conveyor are coupled via a belt drive to a drive system of the combine harvester in order to cut and feed in crop. In
the event of a blockage, an auxiliary hydraulic drive
can be coupled to a shaft of the crop conveyor to
3
drive it and the harvesting head in a direction opposite to the direction of the normal operating movement driven by the drive system, thereby enabling
blocking material to be discharged again. Here the
5 auxiliary drive must generate a high torque to enable
an ejection movement against a resistance of the
drive system.
The purpose of the invention is to create a harvest10 ing machine that enables fast, convenient and reliable ejection of blocking material even at low torque
of the auxiliary drive.
The task is solved in that in a harvesting machine
15 with a main drive, a hydraulic auxiliary drive which
can be supplied with pressurized fluid via a directional valve, and a crop conveyor which can be driven
by the main drive in a normal conveying direction
and by the auxiliary drive in an opposite direction
20 opposite to the normal conveying direction, the crop
conveyor can be decoupled from the main drive by
means of a coupling, in that an actuating lever is
adjustable between a closed position in which the
coupling is closed and an open position in which the
25 coupling is open, and in that an operating element
for controlling the directional valve is functionally coupled to the actuating lever in order to permit pressurized fluid to be supplied to the auxiliary
actuator only in the open position of the actuating
30 lever. This ensures that the main and auxiliary actuators do not work against each other at any time,
thus protecting one from damage by the other; furthermore, a relatively low torque of the auxiliary
actuator is sufficient to overcome a blockage and
4
eject blocking material, since no resistance of the
main actuator has to be overcome.
The setting lever and control element should be in5 dependently operable so that the material conveyor
can also be disconnected from the main drive when
not in use without simultaneously pressurising the
auxiliary drive.
10 If the control element is a first electrical switch,
a second electrical switch actuated by the control
lever may be connected to the first switch so that
a solenoid coil of the directional control valve is
controlled by a logical combination of the switching
15 states of the first and second switch.
In particular, both switches can be connected in
series to form an AND connection; in this way, a
voltage different from ground can only be applied to
20 the solenoid valve and the solenoid coil can only be
energised to move the solenoid valve to the open
position when both switches are closed. Alternatively, the switches could also be connected in parallel to form an OR linkage; in this case a ground
25 voltage would only be applied to the solenoid valve
when both switches are open and the application of
the ground voltage would have to move the solenoid
valve to the open position; however, in this case a
supply voltage failure would also cause the solenoid
30 valve to move to the open position and subsequently
reverse the crop conveyor and harvesting attachment.
In order to generate the torque required for reversing, the auxiliary drive may comprise a hydraulic
5
motor and a gear driven by the hydraulic motor; these
may be pivoted about an axis - in particular parallel
to the axes of the hydraulic motor and gear - between
an uncoupled normal operating position and a revers5 ing position in which they mesh with a gear of the
material conveyor.
The material conveyor typically comprises a belt
conveyor system rotating around several shafts.
10 Since, due to the inclination of the material conveyor, a downstream of these shafts usually has more
ground clearance than an upstream one, it is usually
easier to find space for the gear wheel of the material conveyor on the downstream shaft.
15
A spring may be provided to return the auxiliary
drive to the decoupled position.
The auxiliary drive may include an actuating cylin20 der which can be pressurised with fluid to couple
the gear driven by the hydraulic motor to the gear
wheel of the material conveyor.
The actuator cylinder may be double-acting; this may
25 also accelerate the decoupling of the gears from
each other by pressurising the actuator cylinder
with fluid under pressure and prevent damage in the
event that torque from a main engine is transmitted
to the auxiliary drive.
30
Further features and advantages of the invention result from the following description of design examples with reference to the attached figures. Show
it:
6
Fig. 1A side view of a combine harvester according to the invention;
5 Fig. 2A top view of the combine harvester of Fig.
1;
Fig. 3 the driver's cab of the combine harvester
and its surroundings;
10
Fig. 4 a detail of the driver's cockpit;
Fig. 5 the crop conveyor and a section of a
threshing and separating rotor connected
15 to the crop conveyor;
Fig. 6the auxiliary drive; and
Fig. 7 a hydraulic diagram of the combine har20 vester.
The combine harvester 1 shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2
has a height-adjustable cutterbar 2 in its front
area for cutting grown crops. As the plan view of
25 Fig. 2 shows, the cutterbar 2 comprises a transversely oriented auger 3 with two counter-rotating
helixes 4, 5 of different lengths, which move the
crop cut across the entire width of the cutterbar 2
laterally in front of the entrance of a crop conveyor
30 6.
The laterally offset crop conveyor 6, which extends
diagonally uphill in the direction of travel next to
a driver's cab 7, feeds the crop to a threshing
7
separation rotor 8, which is located behind and
partly below the driver's cab 7 and, like the auger
3, is oriented transversely to the direction of
travel of combine 1. As can be seen more clearly in
5 Fig. 5, the crop conveyor 6 comprises within an elongated housing a belt conveyor 54, here formed by two
endless chains connected to each other by crossbars,
which rotate on sprockets of an upstream shaft 55
adjacent to the cutting mechanism 2 and a downstream
10 shaft 49 adjacent to the separating rotor 8.
The crop fed by the crop conveyor 6 to the right end
of the threshing rotor 8 passes through the threshing
rotor 8 from right to left and threshed straw is
15 discharged into the field through a discharge opening at the left end of the threshing rotor 8.
Grain loosened during threshing and small fragments
of straw and crop residues such as ears or pods of
20 the crop emerge along the length of the threshing
rotor 8, distributed over its circumference and
reach a floor 9 extending under the threshing rotor
8.
25 The composition of the material emerging from the
threshing rotor 8 varies along its length; as the
crop becomes impoverished with grain as it passes
through the threshing rotor 8, the proportion of
non-grain material in the emerging material flow in30 creases. Two augers 10, 11 are arranged at floor 9
to transversely shift the material lying on top of
it in opposite directions and thus to even out the
concentration of the non-grain material across the
width of floor 9.
8
From floor 9, the material is transported to a vibrating preparation floor 12. Driven by the vibrating movement, the material moves backwards onto the
5 superficially grooved preparation floor 12 against
its gradient and finally falls over a rear edge 13
of the preparation floor 12 onto a top screen 14 of
a cleaning system. A blower 15 mounted below the
preparation floor 12 creates a stream of air which
10 passes between the top screen 14 and a bottom screen
16 and between the bottom screen 16 and a collection
floor 17, entraining light non-grain components as
they fall. In this way, grain essentially free of
impurities enters a conveyor channel 18 at the foot
15 of the collection floor 17. A screw conveyor 19 rotating in the conveyor channel 18 moves the grain
sideways to an elevator 20, from which it is conveyed
to a grain tank 21 above the preparation floor.
20 Reversal material that is too coarse to pass through
the screens 14, 16 and too heavy to be carried away
by the air stream falls down the rear edge of the
screens 14, 16 and enters a second conveying channel
22 in which a screw 23 rotates. This auger 23 conveys
25 the returned material to an elevator 24, which drops
it onto the floor 9. There the augers 10, 11 mix it
with the material leaving the threshing separation
rotor 8 and discharge it again on the preparation
floor 12.
30
On both sides of the cutterbar 2 there are adjusting
cylinders 25, which act on the chassis of the combine
harvester on one side and on a front end of the crop
conveyor 2 on the other, and which can be extended
9
and compressed to raise or lower the crop conveyor
6 and the cutterbar 2.
Fig. 3 shows a perspective view of the driver's cock5 pit 7 and a downstream end of the crop conveyor 6
extending next to the driver's cockpit 7. A housing
of the threshing separation rotor 8 forms a bench on
which a driver's seat 26 is mounted. A control panel
27 extends between the driver's seat 26 and the crop
10 conveyor 6, to the right of a driver, on which, among
other things, a control element, in this case a
switch, 28 for controlling the reversing of crop
conveyor 6 and cutterbar 2 is located. To the left
of the driver, on the housing of the threshing sep15 arating rotor 8, an adjusting lever 29 extends
through a slot of a cover 30.
In the detailed view of Fig. 4 the cover 30 is removed and a shaft 31 extending in transverse direc20 tion of the combine harvester can be seen, which can
be swivelled around its longitudinal axis by the
adjusting lever 29 attached to it. The rotation of
the shaft 31 controls a clutch arranged at its opposite end not shown in Fig. 4; in the closed posi25 tion of the setting lever 29 as shown, the clutch is
closed and couples cutter bar 2 and the crop conveyor
6 to a main engine of the combine harvester; in an
open position of the setting lever 29 pivoted upwards
from the closed position, the torque transmission
30 from the main engine to cutter bar 2 and crop conveyor 6 is interrupted.
An electrical safety switch 32 is placed adjacent to
the shaft 31 in such a way that the setting lever 29
10
touches the safety switch 32 in the open position,
thereby closing a contact of the safety switch 32.
The switches 28, 32 connected in series control a
5 directional control valve 33, which is shown in Fig.
7. A first input 34 of the directional control valve
33 is connected to a pump 37 via a check valve 36.
The same pump 37 can also be used to supply the above
mentioned control elements 25. A second inlet 35 is
10 connected to a tank 38 from which the pump 37 sucks
in.
Outputs 39, 40 of the directional control valve 32
are connected to an actuator cylinder 41 and a hy15 draulic motor 42. In the normal position of the directional control valve 32 shown in Fig. 7, the outputs 39, 40 are connected to each other and to the
input 35, so that the setting cylinder 41 and the
hydraulic motor 42 are pressureless. When the
20 switches 28, 31 are closed, a solenoid coil 43 moves
the directional control valve 33 into a second position, in which hydraulic fluid reaches the setting
cylinder 41 and the hydraulic motor 42 via the check
valve 36, the second input 34 and the output 39.
25
As shown in Fig. 6, the setting cylinder 41 is
mounted under a base plate 44 of the driver's cab 7,
which extends forward from the housing of the threshing separation rotor 8. One end of the setting cyl30 inder 41 is hinged to the base plate 44, the other
to an arm 45 which is mounted on the base plate 44
so as to pivot about an axis oriented transversely
to the direction of travel of the combine harvester.
A coil spring 46 is also connected to the arm 45 and
11
the base plate 44 and counteracts a pivoting movement
of the arm 45 driven by extending the adjusting cylinder 41. The coil spring 46 holds the arm 45 in the
rest position shown in Fig. 5 as long as the direc5 tional control valve 32 is in the normal position.
The arm 45 carries a gear wheel 47 and the hydraulic
motor 42 for driving the gear wheel 47. in the rest
position the gear wheel 47 is out of engagement with
10 a gear wheel 48, which is mounted on the shaft 49
together with chain wheels 50 of the material conveyor 6 as shown in Fig. 5.
In the second position of the directional control
15 valve 32, the flow of hydraulic fluid into a working
chamber 53 (Fig. 7) of the setting cylinder 42 first
extends the setting cylinder 42 so far that the gear
wheels 47, 48 engage with each other. If the setting
cylinder 41 cannot then extend any further, the pres20 sure on the hydraulic motor 42 increases to such an
extent that it is set in rotation and drives the
crop conveyor 6 and, via a belt drive 51, the cutter
2 against the normal direction of feed.
25 If the cutterbar 2 or the crop conveyor 6 is blocked,
the driver can first swivel the setting lever 29 to
the open position and thus open the coupling between
the cutterbar 2 and the crop conveyor 6 on the one
hand and the main motor on the other.
30
If the driver also closes switch 28, this will cause
the actuator 42 to extend, the hydraulic motor 42 to
couple to the shaft 49 and finally the crop conveyor
12
6 and the cutter 2 to drive against the normal direction of feed and eject blocking material.
If this is successful and the blockage is removed,
5 and the driver swings the control lever 29 back to
the closed position, this will cause the safety
switch 31 to open before the clutch closes again,
thus de-energizing the coil of the directional control valve 32, so that the directional control valve
10 returns to the rest position. Since in this position
the outputs 39, 40 are connected to each other and
to the tank 38, hydraulic fluid flows out of the
control cylinder 42 under the pressure of the coil
spring 45. As a result, the cylinder tends to return
15 to the position shown in Fig. 6 and the gear wheels
47, 48 are disengaged again.
The directional control valve 32 can have a third
position as shown in Fig. 3, in which the input 34
20 is connected to the output 40 and the input 35 to
the output 39. In the design of the Fig. 7, in which
the setting cylinder 41 is double-acting and the
outlet 40 is connected to a working chamber 52 of
the setting cylinder 41 driving a retracting move25 ment, the decoupling of the gear wheels 47, 48 can
be accelerated by moving the directional control
valve 42 into the third position after the removal
of a blockage so that the gear wheels 47, 48 are out
of engagement, before the setting lever 29 reaches
30 the closed position and torque is again transmitted
from the main motor to the crop conveyor 6 and the
cutter 2, or, if the engagement between the gear
wheels 47, 48 still exists and torque from the main
motor is transmitted to the hydraulic motor 42, the
13
direction of rotation of the hydraulic motor 42
driven thereby coincides with that driven by the
pump 37, thus avoiding damage to hydraulic motor 42
or pump 37.
5
14

Reference sign
5
1 Combine harvester
2 Cutting unit
3 Snail
4 Coil
10 5 Coil
6 Inclined conveyor organ
7 Driver's cockpit
8 Threshing Separating Rotor
9 Floor
15 10 Snail
11 Snail
12 Preparation floor
13 trailing edge
14 Top sieve
20 15 Blower
16 Undersieve
17 Collecting tray
18 Conveyor channel
19 Snail
25 20 Elevator
21 Grain tank
22 Conveyor channel
23 Snail
24 Elevator
30 25 positioning cylinder
26 Driver's seat
27 Control panel
28 Control element, switch
29 Control lever
15
30 Cover
31 Shaft
32 Safety switch
33 Directional control valve
5 34 Entrance
35 Entrance
36 Check valve
37 Pump
38 Tank
10 39 Output
40 Output
41 positioning cylinder
42 Hydraulic motor
43 Solenoid Coil
15 44 Base plate
45 Arm
46 Coil spring
47 Gear wheel
48 Gear wheel
20 49 Shaft
50 Sprocket
51 Belt drive
52 Chamber of Labour
53 Chamber of Labour
25 54 Belt conveyor system
55 Shaft

We Claim:

1. A harvesting machine with a main drive, a
hydraulic auxiliary drive which can be acted
5 upon by pressure fluid via a directional control valve (33), and a crop conveyor (6)
which can be driven by the main drive in a
normal conveying direction and by the auxiliary drive in an opposite direction opposite
10 to the normal conveying direction, characterised in that the crop conveyor (6) can be
uncoupled from the main drive by a coupling,
in that an actuating lever (29) can be adjusted between a closed position, in which
15 the clutch is closed, and an open position,
in which the clutch is open, and in that an
operating element (28) for controlling the
directional valve (33) is functionally coupled to the actuating lever (29) in order to
20 allow the auxiliary drive to be supplied with
the pressure fluid for driving in the opposite direction only in the open position of
the actuating lever (29).
25 2. A harvesting machine according to claim 1,
characterized in that the control element
(28) is a first electrical switch, and in
that the functional coupling consists in that
a second electrical switch (32) actuated by
30 the control lever (29) is connected to the
first switch (28) so that the directional
valve (33) is controlled by a logical combination of the switching states of the first
and second switches (28, 32).
17
3. A harvesting machine according to claim 1,
characterized in that the switches (28, 32)
are connected in series so that a solenoid
5 coil (43) of the directional valve (33) is
energized only when both switches (28, 32)
are closed.
4. A harvesting machine according to one of the
10 preceding claims, characterized in that the
auxiliary drive comprises a hydraulic motor
(42) and a gear wheel (47) driven by the
hydraulic motor (42), which are pivotable
about an axis between an uncoupled position
15 and a position meshing with a gear wheel (48)
of the crop conveyor (6).
5. Harvesting machine according to claim 4,
characterized in that the crop conveyor (6)
20 comprises a belt conveyor device (54) rotating around several shafts (49, 55) and that
the gear wheel (48) of the crop conveyor (6)
is arranged on one of these shafts (49) located downstream in the conveying direction.
25
6. Harvester according to claim 4 or 5, characterized by a spring (41) for resetting the
auxiliary drive to the decoupled position.
30 7. Harvester according to one of claims 4 to 6,
characterized in that the auxiliary drive
comprises an actuating cylinder (41) which
can be acted upon by pressurized fluid for
coupling the gear wheel (47) driven by the
18
hydraulic motor (42) to the gear wheel (48)
of the crop conveyor (6).
8. Harvesting machine according to claim 7,
5 characterized in that the directional control
valve (33) has a position in which the actuating cylinder (41) can be acted upon by
pressurized fluid for uncoupling the gear
wheel (47) driven by the hydraulic motor (42)
10 from the gear wheel (48) of the crop conveyor
(6).