Weed seed destruction
OwnerDean Mayerleinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Weed seeds are destroyed in the chaff from a combine harvester by repeated high speed impacts caused by a rotor mounted in one of a pair of side by side housings which accelerate the discarded seeds in a direction centrifugally away from the rotor onto a stator including angularly adjustable stator surfaces around the axis. Thus the discarded seeds rebound back and forth between the rotor and the stator to provide a plurality of impacts. The seeds are carried axially of the rotor by a controlled airstream so that they move to an axial discharge location where a discharge fan is mounted. The angle of the discharge around the rotor axis can be changed to direct the seeds to the side of the combine away from a straw chopper, towards the guide fins of the tailboard of the chopper, or into the housing of the straw chopper.
Claims23
A combine harvester comprising:
- a separation system for separating from harvested crop a first material comprising straw and a second material comprising chaff and weed seeds;
- a straw spreading device for receiving the first material and spreading the first material at least to the sides of the combine harvester;
- and a weed seed destructor section comprising:
- a destructor rotor housing arranged to receive the second material;
- a destructor rotor arrangement mounted in the destructor rotor housing for rotation about an axis and including rotor surfaces thereon for engaging the second material and for accelerating the second material in a direction;
- a stator arrangement mounted at a location along the direction and including a plurality of stator surfaces for engaging the weed seeds in the accelerated second material to cause a plurality of impacts with the weed seeds;
- and at least one destructor discharge mouth for discharge of the second material after the plurality of impacts;
- wherein the straw spreading device and destructor rotor housing are coupled together to form a single unit on the combine harvester.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.