Sugarcane harvester extractor with leaf shredder
AssigneeDeere & Company
InventorsMatthew J. Hansen, Eric P. Richard, Dusk S. Mixon, Todd J. Rodrigue, Guy E. Burch, Brian J. Fields
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An extractor for a sugarcane harvester that chops stalks of sugarcane into billets. The extractor comprises a fan, a leaf shredder, and a hub. The fan comprises fan blades to induce a flow of air to separate leaves from billets. The leaf shredder comprises shredding blades to cut leaves prior to their ejection from the extractor. The hub is rotatably driven about an axis of rotation. The fan blades and the cutting blades are coupled to the hub for rotation together with the hub about the axis of rotation.
Claims13
An extractor for a sugarcane harvester that chops stalks of sugarcane into billets, the extractor comprising:
- a fan comprising fan blades to induce a flow of air to separate leaves from billets,
- a leaf shredder comprising shredding blades to cut leaves prior to their ejection from the extractor,
- a hub rotatably driven about an axis of rotation, the fan blades and the shredding blades coupled to the hub for rotation together with the hub about the axis of rotation;
- wherein the hub comprises a first set of attachment points to which the fan blades are coupled and a second set of attachment points to which the shredding blades are coupled;
- and
- wherein the second set of attachment points of the hub are positioned axially downstream from the first set of attachment points of the hub relative to the axis of rotation.
An extractor for a sugarcane harvester that chops stalks of sugarcane into billets, the extractor comprising:
- a fan comprising fan blades to induce a flow of air to separate leaves from billets,
- a leaf shredder comprising shredding blades to cut leaves prior to their ejection from the extractor,
- a hub rotatably driven about an axis of rotation, the fan blades and the shredding blades coupled to the hub for rotation together with the hub about the axis of rotation;
- and
- wherein the shredding blades are coupled to the hub for flailing movement.
An extractor for a sugarcane harvester that chops stalks of sugarcane into billets, the extractor comprising:
- a hub rotatable about an axis of rotation;
- a plurality of fan blades attached to the hub and rotatable with the hub to induce a flow of air to separate leaves from billets;
- a plurality of shredding blades attached to the hub and rotatable with the hub to cut leaves;
- wherein both the plurality of fan blades and the plurality of shredding blades are both rotated about the axis of rotation by the hub;
- wherein the hub includes a first set of attachment points to which the plurality of fan blades are coupled and a second set of attachment points to which the plurality of shredding blades are coupled;
- wherein the second set of attachment points of the hub are positioned axially downstream from the first set of attachment points of the hub relative to the axis of rotation;
- and
- wherein the shredding blades are alternatingly axially staggered relative to the axis of rotation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.