Baler with automated positioning of plunger
AssigneeAGCO Corporation
InventorsLawrence D. Retzlaff, Robert J. Waggoner, Kevin M. Tacke
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A baling system acts at shut-down to automatically pre-position a plunger so that it is just past a rear-dead-center position when the baler is restarted, thereby minimizing the load on a power take-off during the next restart. In particular, when the power take-off is deactivated, a control unit automatically brakes the power take-off so that the plunger stops in the desired position. Alternatively, the baling system acts at restart-up to automatically repeatedly activate and deactivate the power take-off in order to accelerate the plunger to a predetermined minimum operating speed before activating the power take-off for continuous operation, thereby maximizing a flywheel's momentum during the restart.
Claims13
A baling system operable to receive loose material, form the loose material into a bale, and eject the bale, wherein the baling system is powered by a power take-off associated with a tractor, the baling system comprising:
- a forming chamber having a discharge outlet, wherein the bale is located in the forming chamber;
- a plunger operable to move in a reciprocating manner within the forming chamber from a front-dead-center position in which the plunger is furthest from the bale to a rear-dead-center position in which the plunger is closest to the bale;
- a communication bus extending between the baler and the tractor and operable to transmit electrical signals;
- a plunger position sensor configured to sense a position of the plunger in the forming chamber;
- a power take-off speed sensor configured to sense a speed of the power take-off;
- and
- a control unit in communication with the tractor, the plunger position sensor, and the power take-off speed sensor, and the control unit configured to automatically preposition the plunger at a predetermined position after the power take-off is deactivated,
- wherein the control unit configured to receive a deactivation signal sent by the tractor to the power take-off over the communication bus, release a pressure in the forming chamber, repeatedly apply a braking force to the power take-off for a first braking interval and remove the braking force for a second braking interval until the power take-off has slowed to a predetermined maximum speed based on information received from the power take-off speed sensor, and then constantly applies the braking force so that the plunger stops at the predetermined position within the forming chamber.
A method of shutting off a baler, wherein the baler is coupled with a power take-off on a tractor, and wherein the baler includes a plunger operable to move in a reciprocating manner within a forming chamber, the method comprising the steps of:
- (1) receiving at an electronic control unit a deactivation signal sent by the tractor to the power take-off over a communication bus;
- (2) sending from the electronic control unit a first control signal to release a pressure in the forming chamber;
- (3) sending from the electronic control unit a second control signal to apply a braking force to the power take-off for a first braking interval and a third control signal to remove the braking force for a second braking interval;
- (4) electronically sensing a speed of the power take-off and repeating step (3) until the power take-off has slowed to a predetermined maximum speed;
- and
- (5) sending from the electronic control unit a fourth control signal to constantly apply the braking force so that the plunger stops at a predetermined position within the forming chamber.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.