Non-stop baling system
AssigneeDeere & Company
InventorsTimothy Kraus, Dennis Johnston
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An agricultural baler system having a direction of travel and adapted to compile a windrow of crop into a bale, the agricultural baler system having a baler assembly coupled to the work machine and configured to consolidate crop from the underlying windrow into the bale, the baler assembly implementing a wrapping process to maintain the form of the bale and an eject process for ejecting the bale, and a windrow diverter selectively positionable between a divert position and a bypass position. Wherein, when the windrow diverter is in the divert position, the underlying windrow is repositioned as the baler assembly moves in the direction of travel.
Claims20
A baler system movable in a direction of travel for collecting a windrow of debris, comprising:
- a baler including a pickup assembly and a housing for defining an internal chamber, the pickup assembly configured to receive the debris from the windrow and dispose of it in the chamber, wherein the baler is adapted to execute a wrapping process to form a bale of the debris and an eject process for ejecting the bale from the chamber;
- a drive system for operably driving the baler in the direction of travel;
- and
- a windrow diverter positioned in front of the pickup assembly relative to the direction of travel, the windrow diverter selectively positionable in a first position and a second position;
- wherein, in the first position, the windrow diverter operably diverts debris in a direction away from the pickup assembly as the baler continuously moves in the direction of travel;
- wherein, in the second position, the windrow diverter is disposed at a location such that the debris is received by the pickup assembly and collected in the chamber.
A baling system, comprising:
- a work machine including a chassis and a drive system for driving the work machine in a direction of travel;
- a baler coupled to the work machine, the baler including a crop pickup assembly and a housing for defining an internal chamber, where the crop pickup assembly is configured to collect crop from an underlying windrow in the chamber as the baler moves in the direction of travel along the windrow;
- at least one sensor coupled to the baler, the sensor configured to detect an amount of crop collected in the chamber;
- and
- a windrow diverter having a divert position and a bypass position, the windrow diverter disposed at a location forward of the crop pickup assembly relative to the direction of travel;
- wherein, when the amount of crop detected by the sensor in the chamber exceeds a threshold amount, the baler operably executes a wrap or eject cycle and the sensor transmits a first signal for operably controlling the windrow diverter to its divert position;
- wherein, in the divert position, the windrow diverter operably diverts the crop from the windrow in a direction away from the crop pickup assembly as the baler continuously moves in the direction of travel.
A method for continuous baling of crop in a windrow, comprising:
- providing a baler including a crop pickup assembly and a housing for defining a chamber, a drive system, a windrow diverter coupled to the baler and having a first position and a second position, and a control system including a sensor and a controller in communication with the sensor, the drive system, the baler, and the windrow diverter;
- driving the baler by the drive system in a direction of travel;
- disposing the windrow diverter in its second position;
- collecting crop with the crop pickup assembly along a windrow of crop as the baler moves in the direction of travel and the windrow diverter is in its second position;
- storing collected crop in the internal chamber of the baler;
- detecting an amount of crop stored in the chamber with the sensor;
- communicating the amount of stored crop detected in the chamber to the controller;
- comparing, with the controller, the detected amount of stored crop with a threshold amount;
- executing a wrap cycle to form a bale of crop with the baler if the detected amount of stored crop satisfies the threshold amount;
- operably controlling the windrow diverter to its first position by the controller during the executing step and as the baler moves in the direction of travel;
- and
- discontinuing the collecting step when the windrow diverter is in its first position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.