Cottonseed delinters and methods
AssigneesCotton Incorporated, The United States of America Secretary of Agriculture
InventorsGregory A. Holt, Thomas C. Wedegaertner
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods for removing material, e.g., linters, from seeds, e.g., ginned cottonseeds, are provided. The systems and methods involve rotating the seeds in a rotatable drum having a plurality of longitudinal brushes. The centrifugal force created by the rotation of the drum and the plurality of longitudinal brushes urge the seeds against an interior surface of the drum that is lined with a brush insert. In this way, work is performed that removes the material from the exterior of the seeds. The material is removed using reduced pressure and the processed seeds are removed. The system may include a brush insert that is easily removed from the rotatable drum. Other systems and methods are disclosed.
Claims16
A system for removing linters from ginned cottonseeds, the system comprising:
- a rotatable drum having an exterior surface and an interior surface, wherein the interior surface defines, at least in part, a cavity, wherein the cavity has a first longitudinal-end opening and a second longitudinal-end opening;
- a flexible abrasive member coupled to and substantially covering the interior surface of the rotatable drum;
- a primary frame for rotatably supporting the rotatable drum;
- a first drive shaft having a plurality of drive wheels coupled to the first drive shaft for supporting a portion of the drum and providing a rotating force;
- a first rotation device operably coupled to the at least one drive shaft for for rotating the first drive shaft and thereby rotating the rotatable drum relative to the primary frame in a first direction such that a centrifugal force urges the cottonseeds in the rotatable drum against the flexible abrasive member;
- a first end plate substantially covering the first longitudinal-end opening of the cavity;
- a second end plate substantially covering the second longitudinal-end opening;
- a plurality of longitudinal brushes, each longitudinal brush of the plurality of longitudinal brushes is coupled to the first end plate and the second end plate and each longitudinal brush has brush elements that are configured to bias the cottonseeds having linters against the flexible abrasive member on the interior surface of the rotatable drum;
- a linter-removal aperture fluidly coupled to the cavity and to a reduced-pressure source for removing linters from the cavity;
- and
- a seed-removal conduit fluidly coupled to the cavity for removing the cottonseeds after delinting.
A system for removing linters from ginned cottonseeds, the system comprising:
- a rotatable drum having an exterior surface and an interior surface, wherein the interior surface defines, at least in part, a cavity, wherein the cavity has a first longitudinal-end opening and a second longitudinal-end opening;
- a flexible abrasive member coupled to and substantially covering the interior surface of the rotatable drum;
- a primary frame for rotatably supporting the rotatable drum;
- a first drive shaft having a first plurality of drive wheels coupled the first drive shaft for supporting a portion of the drum and providing a rotating force;
- a second drive shaft having a second plurality of drive wheels coupled thereto for supporting a portion of the drum and providing a rotating force;
- a first rotation device operably coupled to the first drive shaft and the second drive shaft for rotating the rotatable drum relative to the primary frame in a first direction such that a centrifugal force urges the cottonseeds in the rotatable drum against the flexible abrasive member;
- a first end plate substantially covering the first longitudinal-end opening of the cavity;
- a second end plate substantially covering the second longitudinal-end opening;
- a plurality of longitudinal brushes, each longitudinal brush of the plurality of longitudinal brushes is coupled to the first end plate and the second end plate and each longitudinal brush has brush elements that are configured to bias the cottonseeds having linters against the flexible abrasive member on the interior surface of the rotatable drum;
- a first support frame substantially surrounding the first longitudinal end of the drum and having a first plurality of stabilizing wheels coupled to an interior portion thereof;
- a second support frame substantially surrounding the second longitudinal end of the drum and having a second plurality of stabilizing wheels coupled to an interior portion thereof;
- a linter-removal aperture fluidly coupled to the cavity and to a reduced-pressure source for removing linters from the cavity;
- and
- a seed-removal conduit fluidly coupled to the cavity for removing the cottonseeds after delinting.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.