Modular electric disc cutterbar and controller
AssigneeCNH Canada, Ltd.
InventorMartin J. Roberge
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An electric motor-driven rotary disc cutter module for use in a cutterbar in an agricultural harvester. In one embodiment, each rotary disc module includes an electric motor driver for the rotary cutterhead. Individual cutterhead modules are staggered fore and aft along the cutterbar to provide continuous cutting across the lateral width of the cutterbar without requiring synchronized rotation of the cutterheads to prevent contact of the knives. This configuration allows for individual speed and/or rotational direction adjustment for each cutterhead to optimize crop cutting performance and/or crop movement within the header. A control system may be included to monitor performance and manage individual operation of the cutterhead modules.
Claims6
A disc cutterbar for an agricultural header having generally spaced-apart and opposing ends defining a header width, the disc cutterbar comprising:
- an elongate, generally rigid support frame connected to the header;
- a plurality of disc cutter modules attached to and spaced apart along the support frame, each module configured to be driven by an electric drive motor;
- a controller and at least one feedback input for managing the rotational speed and direction of each electric drive motor, the controller configured to individually adjust a rotational speed of at least a plurality of the modules between a plurality of operating speeds and the direction of at least a plurality of motors in response to signals from the at least one feedback input.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.