Independent drum drive system for a cotton harvester row unit
AssigneeDeere & Company
InventorsKevin J. Goering, Joel M. Schreiner, John N. Oenick
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A picking unit of a cotton harvester row unit includes a drum rotatable about an axis and a plurality of spindles for harvesting cotton. The plurality of spindles is coupled to the drum. A first drive unit rotatably drives the plurality of spindles. A second drive unit produces electrical power to drive a drive shaft. An output gear is coupled to the drive shaft, and a drum drive gear is coupled to the output gear. The drum drive gear rotatably drives the drum such that the output gear operably transfers power from the drive shaft to the drum drive gear. The drum is operably controlled independently of the plurality of spindles.
Claims5
A picking unit of a cotton harvester row unit, comprising:
- a drum rotatable about an axis;
- a plurality of spindles for harvesting cotton, the plurality of spindles coupled to the drum;
- a first drive unit for rotatably driving the plurality of spindles;
- a second drive unit for producing electrical power;
- a drive shaft electrically driven by the second drive unit;
- an output gear coupled to the drive shaft;
- and
- a drum drive gear coupled to the output gear and rotatably driving the drum, where the output gear operably transfers power from the drive shaft to the drum drive gear;
- wherein, the drum is operably controlled independently of the plurality of spindles;
- further wherein, the second drive unit comprises an inverter and an electric motor, wherein the inverter operably receives an input from the electric motor related to either torque or speed during a picking operation, the inverter operably compares the input to a torque limit threshold or a speed limit threshold, and the inverter detects a plugged or torque overload condition when the input exceeds the torque limit threshold or speed limit threshold.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.