US 4,739,773 A · Feeding arrangement for an axial flow rotary separator

Abstract

In a combine harvester having a twin rotor axial flow rotary separator with side-by-side separator portions downstream of a conventional threshing cylinder and concave, crop material is guided by an overhead beater and guide plate into the overhead triangular receiving zone of a casing infeed portion disposed between the separator casings and the threshing cylinder. The triangular opening has, as its base, the transverse beater and for its isosceles sides, converging diagonal or helical edges of the upper semi-cylindrical truncated portion of an infeed casing. The rotors are contra-rotating in a direction such that incoming material is carried downwards into a bite between the rotors and then propelled around a semi-cylindrical lower half of the infeed casing to the outer walls of the casing where continued upward and inward motion is controlled by generally helical guide surfaces so that the material continues in a spiral path downstream within the infeed casing and then into the separator casing proper. Upstream increased diameter paddle-like portions of the respective side-by side rotors reach towards the upstream edge of a center divider wall of the infeed casing and cooperate with that edge and each other to divide incoming material evenly into the respective rotor casings.

Claims30

Dependent claims

In a combine harvester equipped to gather crop material from a field and deliver it to a separator for processing, the separator including a pair of side-by-side axial flow rotary separating units having approximately parallel longitudinal axes of rotation disposed in approximately horizontal common plane, each separator unit including a rotor separator portion surrounded by a generally cylindrical casing separator portion, the rotors each having a frame and being contrarotating so as to establish a bite between them, an infeed arrangement for guiding the crop material into the separator comprising:

a pair of rotor infeed portions constituting an upstream extension of the respective rotor separator portions and having transversely aligned upstream and downstream ends and being closely spaced so as to establish a bite between them, the bite facing towards the delivered crop material;
an infeed casing partially surrounding the rotor infeed portions and including a first dual semi-cylindrical casing half on a first side of the common horizontal plane opposite from the bite and a second partially truncated dual semi-cylindrical casing half on the opposite side of the common horizontal plane;
the two halves meeting and registering approximately in the common horizontal plane and substantially surrounding the rotor infeed portions and together defining a pair of cylindrical spaces having downstream outlets registering with the upstream inlet of the respective separator casings and a transversely extending upstream infeed casing end having laterally outer portions, each of said truncations establishing casing edges extending obliquely from the laterally outer portions of the infeed casing end inwardly to a point longitudinally intermediate of the infeed casing thus defining a converging generally triangular infeed receiving zone and exposing an axial extent of the bite between the rotors for direct engagement of incoming material;
and
the casings including internal helical guide surfaces spanning the axial extent of the casing so that substantially all incoming material once engaged by the rotors, after one half revolution in the first casing half encounters the truncated second casing half and is contained within it and guided axially downstream.

2 more elements

In a combine harvester having a threshing cylinder delivering threshed material in a given direction and an axial flow rotary separator also oriented in the given direction and including at least one rotor rotating within a generally cylindrical casing for receiving the threshed crop material and separating grain from it while propelling it downstream in a generally spiral path while maintaining the material in a generally annular mat in contact with the internal surfaces of the separator casing, a feeding arrangement for feeding the threshed crop material into the separator casing for engagement by the rotor separator portion, comprising:

a rotor infeed portion having a periphery of revolution and coaxial with the rotor separator portion and extending upstream of the separator casing and drive means for driving the rotor infeed portion in the same direction as the rotor separator portion, and
a generally cylindrical feed casing partially surrounding the rotor infeed portion including a semi-cylindrical lower half having a generally longitudinal rotationally upstream edge, a generally upright wall tangential to the upstream edge and a truncated, semi-cylindrical upper half registering with the lower half, said truncation constituting the omission of an upstream portion of the semi-cylindrical casing adjacent the tangential wall and defined by a generally helical upstream edge of the casing upper half extending to intersect the tangential wall and define a generally triangular radially upward and outward facing opening, the base of the triangle being defined by a transverse plane at the upstream end of the rotor infeed portion, and the rotor direction being such as to carry threshed material towards a bite between the tangential wall and the rotor periphery.

In a combine harvester having an axial flow rotary separator comprising a pair of side-by-side axial flow rotary separator units, the separator including an upstream feed portion having an inlet opening generally upwards and a transverse conventional threshing cylinder and concave having a discharge point adjacent and upstream of the inlet and generally above the axis of the separator rotors, an auxiliary feeding device for assisting the transfer of material from the threshing cylinder and concave discharge point to the separator units by way of the inlet comprising:

a beater rotatable about a transverse axis parallel to the axis of the threshing cylinder and disposed generally above the axes of the separator rotors, the beater including a frame, said frame carrying crop material engaging elements including a plurality of oblique guide surfaces including one such surface at each lateral end of the beater and at least a pair of such surfaces towards the center of the beater for contributing to the division of the flow of crom material into separate streams, one for each separator unit, and converging each of those streams in a downstream direction;
a guide plate partially wrapping the beater on its upper side and defining, between the guide plate and the beater, a feeding slot, the guide plate extending downstream and termininating in a discharge guide surface, the direction of rotation of the beater being such as to convey through the feeding slot crop material delivered to it by the threshing cylinder and concave discharge and the guide discharge surface being disposed to deflect material generally into the inlet of the separator;
and
oblique guide elements carried by the guide plate and effective in the feeding slot for converging conveyed crop material inwardly towards the center of the separator.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Feeding arrangement for an axial flow rotary separator

Life of this patent

Feeding arrangement for an axial flow rotary separator

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims30