Abstract:
The invention is directed to a combine having a chopper arrangement for receiving and chopping harvested crop material that has been threshed and separated. The chopper arrangement comprises a web wheel disk having knives entrained thereon that cooperate with a stationary shear bar to chop the harvested crop material that has been threshed and separated.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The invention is directed to a chopper arrangement on a combine comprising a web wheel disk having knives entrained thereon.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    Straw choppers are used on combines to chop harvested crop material that has been threshed and separated. The straw chopper receives the crop material from the separating assembly and chops the crop material into smaller parts before depositing the chopped crop material onto the field. Known straw choppers are typically equipped with knives supported in bearings pendulously on a rotating body that cut the harvested crop remains in interaction with stationary shear bars. The power requirements are relatively high and the degree of size reduction of the remains is not always adequate.  
           [0003]    An undated advertisement for a “Don Grain Combine” discloses a drum chopper that can be attached as a straw chopper to the rear side of a combine. The same drum chopper can also be attached to a corn header, in order to chop the harvested crop remains and conduct them into a container or to deposit them on the field.  
           [0004]    DE-196 01 421-A describes a corn header in which the ears of corn are conducted to a combine. The plant stems are processed by means of a web disk wheel chopper.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0005]    It is an object of the present invention to provide a chopper arrangement for a combine having a low power requirement and a high degree of size reduction of the chopped material.  
           [0006]    The large components of harvested crop material that has been threshed and separated by the combine are directed to a chopper arrangement located downstream from the separating assembly. The chopper arrangement is provided with a web disk wheel having radially extending knives entrained thereon. The desired length of the chopped crop material can be controlled by controlling the supply velocity of the crop material to be chopped. This results in a large ejection trajectory and relatively low power requirements.  
           [0007]    In the preferred embodiment, the chopper contains at least one web disk wheel having entrained knives that is brought into rotation about a predominantly vertical axis. Thereby, the harvested crop remains can be supplied from above and can be ejected to the rear or to the side in a horizontal direction with respect to the orientation of the combine.  
           [0008]    In principle, it would be conceivable to conduct the harvested crop remains to the web disk wheel by the action of gravity alone. However, the harvested crop remains produced by the threshing and separating arrangement of the combine are preferably conducted to the web disk wheel chopper by at least two interacting supply rolls which rotate in opposite directions and between which the harvested crop remains are conveyed. The supply rolls precompress the crop material and forcibly conduct the material to the web disk wheel. Thereby the harvested crop remains are supplied to the web disk wheel chopper in an orderly manner as a mat. It is also conceivable that two pairs of supply rolls be arranged one pair behind the other in the direction of material flow, or to employ an odd number of supply rolls. Rolls with tines or a reaping device in the form of a reel could also be employed as supply rolls.  
           [0009]    To control the length of cut, the rotational speed of the supply rolls can be adjustable. An infinitely variable cutting length gearbox can be used to control the supply speed to the chopper arrangement. As an alternative, a gear box having different speeds can also be used.  
           [0010]    The use of driven supply rolls makes it possible to provide a shear bar at the inlet of the chopper arrangement. This results in a clean cut with low power requirements.  
           [0011]    In case the capacity of a chopper arrangement with only one web disk wheel is not sufficient, an obvious solution would be to arrange two web disk wheels alongside one another. Their axes of rotation can extend parallel or be inclined to each other. It is conceivable that the two web disk wheels be installed in a common housing or to employ two separate housings.  
           [0012]    It is also conceivable that a relatively large web disk wheel can be used that is supplied by two inlets that are opposite one another, each of which is supplied with a part of the flow of the crop material. A single such web disk wheel could be used, or two (or even more) smaller ones could be arranged alongside one another.  
           [0013]    In a preferred embodiment, the housing of the chopper arrangement is provided with one or more ejection ducts through which the chopped crop material is ejected. The ejection duct, or an end piece mounted to the duct, can be pivoted about a vertical axis in order to eject the chopped crop material in differing directions. The pivoting movement can be continuous in order to distribute the harvested crop remains over the width of a swath taken up by the combine. It is also conceivable that the ejection duct or ducts could be pivoted on the basis of the wind direction or the inclination of the terrain, and to leave them in a fixed position on the basis of a measured condition or provided as input by an operator.  
           [0014]    Fundamentally, a web disk wheel is sensitive to foreign objects. In a combine, metallic parts frequently reach the chopper arrangement. These parts may originate with the combine itself, such as crop lifters, intake fingers or pegs of a separator rotor. Therefore, it is preferred that a foreign object detection arrangement be located along the flow of the harvested crop remains upstream from the chopper arrangement. This detector can recognize any foreign objects contained in the flow of the crop material from the separating assembly. The detector controls an arrangement that stops the flow of the crop material (interrupts) or deflects the flow of crop material when a foreign object is detected, so that the foreign object does not reach the web disk wheel. When the foreign object detection arrangement has performed an interruption of the flow of the crop material, the operator can then remove the foreign object before renewing operations. If the flow of crop material is redirected past the chopper arrangement, then the flow of the harvested crop remains can again be automatically conducted into the chopper arrangement, as soon as a sufficiently long time interval has elapsed after the detection of the foreign object. In this way, an interruption of the operation of the combine is avoided. The foreign object detection arrangement may, for example, be configured as an inductive metal detector or operate as an ultra-sonic device, or any other appropriate configuration.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0015]    [0015]FIG. 1 is a semi-schematic side view of a combine with a first embodiment of a chopper arrangement.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 2 is a rear view of the chopper arrangement of FIG. 1.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 3 is a rear view of a second embodiment of a chopper arrangement.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 4 is a top view of the chopper arrangement of FIG. 3.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 5 is a rear view of a third embodiment of the chopper arrangement.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 6 is a top view of the chopper arrangement of FIG. 5.  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 7 shows a top view of a fourth embodiment of a chopper arrangement.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 8 is a side view of a fifth embodiment of a chopper arrangement.  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 9 is a side view of the chopper arrangement of FIG. 8 with the flow of the harvested crop conducted past the chopper arrangement.  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 10 is a rear view of a sixth embodiment of a chopper arrangement.  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 11 is a rear view of a seventh embodiment of a chopper arrangement.  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 12 is a side view of an eighth embodiment of a chopper arrangement.  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 13 is a top view of the chopper arrangement of FIG. 12. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0028]    A combine  10 , shown in FIG. 1, is supported on front driven and rear steerable wheels  12  and  14 , respectively, and is provided with an operator&#39;s cab  16  from which it can be controlled by an operator. A grain tank  18  is located behind the operator&#39;s cab  16 . The grain tank  18  is provided with an unloading auger  20  through which clean grain from the grain tank can be transferred to an awaiting grain cart or truck. The grain tank  18  is supported on a frame  22  formed by left and right side sheets. Harvested crop material is directed from a harvesting assembly, not shown, by the feeder house  38  past stone trap  40  into the interior of the combine formed by the left and right side sheets. The interior of the combine is provided with a threshing assembly, a separating assembly and a cleaning assembly. The threshing assembly separates the harvested crop material into its large and small components. The threshing assembly comprises a threshing cylinder  24 , a concave  26 , and a beater  28 . Large components having small components, like grain, entrained therein are directed by the threshing assembly to the separating assembly. The separating assembly releases the trapped grain from the large components. In the illustrated embodiment, the separating assembly comprises straw walkers  30 . The small components, such as grain and chaff, fall onto grain pan  32  from the concave  26  and from straw walkers  30 . The grain pan  32  directs the small components to the cleaning assembly. The cleaning assembly comprises sieves  34  and blower  36 . Chaff is blown out the rear of the combine by blower  36 , whereas clean grain is collected on the floor of the combine where it is collected and directed to the grain tank  18  by a clean grain elevator, not shown. The large crop components are conducted over the straw walkers  30  to straw guide vanes  46  and  48 . The straw guide vanes  46  and  48  direct the large crop components to a chopper arrangement  42  located beneath a straw exhaust hood  52 . It would also be conceivable to conduct the chaff to the chopper arrangement  42  in order to distribute the chaff over a wide region of the field. Although the present invention is described as being used with a combine having a separating assembly comprising straw walkers, this invention could also be used on combines having rotary separating assemblies.  
         [0029]    The straw walkers  30  free the trapped small crop components (grain) from the large crop components. After separation, the large crop components pass over the rear of the straw walkers  30  and guided by guide vanes  46  and  48  are directed into the straw chopper  42 . Guide vane  48  is attached to the rear wall of the straw exhaust hood  52 . Immediately below the guide vanes  46  and  48  are an upper pair of interacting supply rolls  44 , that are rotated in opposite directions. The upper supply rolls  44  convey the harvested crop remains downward and further guide the large crop components to a lower pair of supply rolls  44 , which are also rotated in opposite directions and convey the crop material downward. The supply rolls  44  may be provided with smooth or profiled surfaces. Between the upper and the lower supply rolls  44  the flow of harvested crop remains is guided by guide vanes  66 . The lower supply rolls  44  conduct the harvested crop remains as a mat with a definite velocity to the inlet  68  of the chopper arrangement  42 . The chopper  42  is configured as a web disk wheel chopper.  
         [0030]    The web disk wheel chopper includes a web disk wheel  54  that can rotate about a central, vertical axis. The web disk wheel  54  is rotated by a belt pulley  50 . Belts and additional transmission elements operationally extend between the main propulsion engine of the combine and belt pulley  50 . The web disk wheel  54  is rotatably supported on its upper side and its lower side on bearings, not shown, on the frame  22 . A number of knives  56  are distributed uniformly across the upper side of the web disk wheel  54 , which are provided with cutting edges oriented approximately in the radial direction. The knives  56  in conjunction with a stationary shear bar  58  engage the large crop components entering the chopper  42  through the inlet opening  68  to chop the large crop components. The lengths to which the large crop components are cut is determined by the conveying velocity of the lower supply rolls  44 , the rotational speed of the web disk wheel  54  and the number of knives  56  mounted to the disc wheel  54 . A number of paddles  60  are distributed over the circumference of the web disk wheel  54 . The paddles  60  eject the chopped crop material through an ejection duct  62  to the rear of the combine and onto the field.  
         [0031]    In FIG. 2 it can be seen that the flow of the harvested crop remains is guided by straw guide vanes  64  at the sides. Guide vanes  64  narrow the crop material path as it flows downward. The guide vanes  64  form a funnel by narrowing the sides of the crop material path. The crop material path is also narrowed in the fore/aft direction as the spacing between the lower supply rolls  44  is less than the spacing between the upper supply rolls  44 . The lower supply rolls  44  are preferably driven faster than the upper supply rolls  44 , in order to avoid a blockage of the harvested crop remains. Due to the narrowing at the sides by guide vanes  64  the lower supply rolls  44  are shorter than the upper supply rolls  44 .  
         [0032]    [0032]FIG. 3 shows a second embodiment of a chopper arrangement according to the invention, in which two web disk wheel choppers  54  are arranged alongside one another in order to increase the chopper capacity. Accordingly, in each case two pairs of lower supply rolls  44  and upper supply rolls  44  are provided. In this embodiment, the flow of the crop material is also narrowed as it passes downward in the funnel formed by the guides and rollers. The choppers of the second embodiment are shown in FIG. 4 and comprise the star-shaped, radial arrangement of the knives  56  on the web disk wheel  54 . Furthermore, it is evident that the web disk wheels  54  are arranged in separate housings  70  to which the ejection ducts  62  with their rectangular cross section are formed or attached. The ejection ducts  62  together with the housing  70  can be pivoted about the rotational axis of the web disk wheels  54 , as is indicated by the arrows. This pivoting action controls the direction of ejected chopped crop material. The ejection ducts  62  can be brought into a predetermined position manually, or by an appropriate drive, or they may be continuously pivoted to the left and right, in order to evenly distribute the chopped crop material over the field.  
         [0033]    [0033]FIG. 5 shows a third embodiment of a chopper arrangement according to the invention. As in the second embodiment, the flow of the crop material is divided into two flow paths that narrow downward in the form of a funnel. Correspondingly, two pairs of upper and lower supply rolls  44  are also provided. In contrast to the second embodiment, only a single web disk wheel  54  is provided, to which the crop is conducted through two inlets  68 . The two inlets  68  are located on opposite sides of the vertical axis of rotation of the web disk wheel  54  opposite each other. As illustrated in FIG. 6, each of the inlets  68  is located adjacent to a shear bar  58 . The knives  56  of the web disk wheel  54  cut the harvested crop remains by interaction with the shear bars  58 . The housing  70  of the third embodiment comprises two parts, each of which carries an ejection duct  62 . The two parts can be pivoted together with the housing  70  or separately and sliding along each other in the direction of the arrows about a vertical axis.  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 7 shows a fourth embodiment of a chopper arrangement according to the invention. The web disk wheel  54  corresponds to that already described and can be combined with each of the previously described embodiments of the invention. In contrast to the other embodiments, the ejection duct  62  may be equipped with an end piece  72  that can be pivoted about a vertical axis, as indicated by the arrow, in order to control the ejection of chopped crop material. It is also conceivable that the end piece  72  may be bent and configured to rotate about the longitudinal axis of the ejection duct  62  or about an axis perpendicular thereto, as with the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 11.  
         [0035]    A fifth embodiment of the chopper arrangement is shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. A foreign object detection arrangement is provided which includes a permanent magnet  76  and an induction coil  74 . It is arranged to detect any possible foreign objects contained in the crop material mat  78  of the large crop components that are to be chopped. The permanent magnet  76  generates a magnetic field that influences the induction coil  74 . A foreign object that could be contained in the crop material mat  78 , particularly if it contains ferro-magnetic material, changes the flux density of the magnetic field so that an induction signal is generated in the induction coil  74 . In such a case, a control connected to the induction coil  74 , not shown, forces a carrier that retains the supply rolls  44 , out of the operating position shown in FIG. 8, into the position shown in FIG. 9. In FIG. 9 the crop material mat  78  is conducted past the chopper  42  and deposited onto the field. It would also be conceivable to pivot the supply rolls  44  to the rear opposite from that illustrated in FIG. 9, so that the crop material mat  78  slides along the upper side of the housing  70  of the chopper  42  before falling downward onto the field. After a certain time interval has elapsed, that corresponds at least to the time it takes the foreign object to reach the chopper  42 , the control can return the carrier with the supply rolls  44  to its initial operating position shown in FIG. 8. In this way an interruption of the operation of the combine  10  can be avoided. The pivoting of the carrier for the supply rolls  44  can also be used to shift between chopper operation and windrow depositing operation. It is also conceivable that the entire chopper arrangement can be slid to the rear and/or pivoted to the rear for the windrow depositing operation.  
         [0036]    [0036]FIG. 10 shows a sixth embodiment of a chopper arrangement. The large crop components ejected by the straw walkers  30  are conveyed by a rotary screw conveyor  80  to the center of the combine  10 . From there the large crop components are conducted downward to a pair of supply rolls  44  that are spaced horizontally and arranged behind each other in the fore/aft direction. The supply rolls  44  convey the large crop components downward to the chopper  42 .  
         [0037]    [0037]FIGS. 12 and 13 show an eighth embodiment of the invention. The web disk wheel  54  is arranged on the rear of a rotor  82  of a combine  10  and rotates about an axis that extends parallel or even coaxial to the axis of rotation of the rotor  82 . The rotor  82  may be a threshing and separating rotor, or it may be the rotor of a hybrid combine with a transverse threshing cylinder and two axial separating rotors arranged alongside each other. In FIG. 13 it can be seen that two rotors  82  are arranged alongside one another, each of which is followed by a web disk wheel  54 . Each web disk wheel  54  takes up the harvested crop remains that are ejected by the rotor  82 , reduces them and throws them downward through an ejection duct  62 . There the harvested crop remains are distributed over a field by means of a distributing plate  84  that rotates about an approximately vertical axis. In this embodiment separate supply rollers are omitted.  
         [0038]    Having described the preferred embodiment, it will become apparent that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the accompanying claims.