Auxiliary Power System for an Agricultural Baler with Mechanical Flywheel Braking
AssigneeCNH Industrial America LLC
InventorsAlessandro Benevelli, Jonathan De Fraine
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Abstract
An agricultural baler includes a plunger reciprocally movable within a main bale chamber during a compression stroke and a return stroke, a flywheel associated with the plunger, and a driveline associated with the flywheel and couplable with a power take-off (PTO) of a traction unit. The baler further includes an APS coupled with the driveline and configured for receiving power from the driveline and storing the power. A PTO indicator provides an output signal indicative of an engagement of the PTO. An electrical processing circuit is coupled with the APS and the PTO indicator, and controls operation of the APS, dependent on the output signal from the PTO indicator.
Claims16
An agricultural baler comprising:
- a main bale chamber;
- a plunger reciprocally movable within the main bale chamber during a compression stroke and a return stroke;
- a flywheel associated with the plunger;
- and
- a driveline associated with the flywheel and couplable with a power take-off (PTO) of a traction unit;
- an auxiliary power system (APS) coupled with the driveline and configured for receiving power from the driveline and storing the power;
- a PTO indicator providing an output signal indicative of an engagement of the PTO;
- and
- an electrical processing circuit coupled with the APS and the PTO indicator, the electrical processing circuit controlling operation of the APS, dependent on the output signal from the PTO indicator.
A method of operating an agricultural baler, comprising the steps of:
- driving a driveline of the baler from a power take-off (PTO) of a traction unit;
- reciprocally moving a plunger within a main bale chamber during a compression stroke and a return stroke;
- receiving power from the driveline using an auxiliary power system (APS) coupled with the driveline;
- storing power in the APS;
- providing an output signal from a PTO indicator which is indicative of an engagement of the driveline;
- and
- controlling operation of the APS using an electrical processing circuit which is coupled with the APS and the PTO indicator, dependent on the output signal from the PTO indicator.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.