Forage harvester equipped with a crop pick-up header

A header system for use with a harvester having an inlet, the system comprising:

• a crop pick-up header comprising:
• a frame comprising a floor portion,
• a rotatable reel,
• a rotatable auger configured to receive crops which have been picked up by the rotatable reel, the rotatable auger comprising flights for moving the received crops towards a central area of the crop pick-up header and from there to the inlet of the harvester, wherein the rotatable auger is mounted between two auger support arms which are pivotable relative to the frame, about a common axis that is essentially parallel to the central rotation axis of the rotatable auger, so that the pivoting of the two auger support arms upward or downward causes raising or lowering of the rotatable auger relative to the floor portion of the frame,
• one or more rotatable windguard rolls movable between a low position for maintaining collected crops on a transfer path from the rotatable reel towards the rotatable auger, and a high position wherein the one or more rotatable windguard rolls are removed from said transfer path,
• one or more actuators for actively pivoting the two auger support arms and thereby the rotatable auger about said common axis, to thereby actively raise or lower the rotatable auger;
• and
• a control unit coupled to the crop pick-up header and configured to detect a foreign object before it enters into the inlet of the harvester, to raise the rotatable auger and the one or more rotatable windguard rolls, decouple the rotatable reel from a reel speed drive so that the rotatable reel is freely rotatable, rotate the rotatable auger in reverse while the rotatable auger is in a raised position, remove crops from an area upstream of feed rolls of the harvester, thereafter, lower the rotatable auger to a lower position and maintain the rotatable auger in said lower position, while continuing to drive the rotation of the rotatable auger in a reverse direction, to thereby move the foreign object towards the rotatable reel, and after the rotatable auger has reached the lower position, actively drive the rotatable reel in the reverse direction, to thereby eject the foreign object from the crop pick-up header.

A method for removing a foreign object from a crop pick-up header that is operationally coupled to a harvester, the harvester comprising an inlet and a set of forward and reverse-rotatable feed rolls positioned downstream of the inlet, the crop pick-up header comprising a frame having a floor portion, a rotatable reel, a rotatable auger configured to receive crops which have been picked up by the rotatable reel, the rotatable auger comprising flights for moving the received crops towards a central area of the crop pick-up header and from there to the inlet of the harvester, wherein the rotatable auger is mounted between two auger support arms which are pivotable relative to the frame, about a common axis that is essentially parallel to the central rotation axis of the rotatable auger, such that pivoting the two auger support arms upward or downward causes raising or lowering of the rotatable auger relative to the floor portion of the frame, one or more rotatable windguard rolls movable between a low position for maintaining collected crops on a transfer path from the rotatable reel towards the rotatable auger, and a high position wherein the one or more rotatable windguard rolls are removed from said transfer path, a combination of the harvester and the crop pick-up header comprising an auger speed drive that is configured to reverse rotational direction of the rotatable auger from a forward direction applied during the collection of crops to a reverse direction, a reel speed drive that is configured to reverse rotational direction of the rotatable reel from a forward direction applied during the collection of crops to a reverse direction, a detection system configured to detect a foreign object before it enters into the inlet of the harvester, and to stop the feed rolls upon said detection, one or more actuators for actively pivoting the two auger support arms and thereby the rotatable auger about said common axis, to thereby actively raise or lower the rotatable auger, wherein the method comprises the following steps to remove the foreign object, performed after the detection of the foreign object and after stopping the feed rolls:

• raising the rotatable auger and the one or more rotatable windguard rolls,
• decoupling the rotatable reel from the reel speed drive so that the rotatable reel is freely rotatable,
• rotating the rotatable auger and the feed rolls in the reverse direction while the rotatable auger is in a raised position, to remove crops from an area upstream of the feed rolls,
• thereafter, lowering the rotatable auger to a lower position and maintaining the rotatable auger in said lower position, while continuing to drive the rotation of the rotatable auger in the reverse direction, to thereby move the foreign object towards the rotatable reel,
• after the rotatable auger has reached the lower position, actively driving the rotatable reel in the reverse direction, to thereby eject the crops and the foreign object from the crop pick-up header.