Abstract:
Disclosed is an articulated harvesting combine of a forward power processing unit (PPU) and a rear grain cart, wherein the PPU carries dual axially mounted engines with oppositely opposed crankshafts with one toward the rear grain cart and the other engine away from the rear grain cart, there being no comingling of flywheel output power flow between the two engines.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims benefit of provisional application Ser. No. 62/358,629 filed Jul. 6, 2016, and application Ser. No. 15/642,799, filed on Jul. 6, 2017. 
     
    
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH 
       [0002]    Not applicable. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    The present disclosure relates to harvesting articulated (jointed) combines and more particularly to improved airflow in the forward tractor or crop processing power unit (PPU) having dual engines with all grain stored in a rear grain cart. 
         [0004]    Most modern combines that utilize axially mounted threshing rotors have a single engine that is mounted transverse to the rotor (and direction of travel). Those combines typically use a bevel gear set to “turn” the engine&#39;s power to rotate the primary power consuming components—the rotor(s), header, and chopper(s). This configuration comes with several problems. 
         [0005]    One problem is that axial combines with transverse mounted engines utilize an expensive, heavy, space, and energy consuming bevel gear set to “turn” the power needed for the rotor. Modern combines that package the engine parallel to the threshing cylinder, when the cylinder is mounted axially to the direction of travel, were developed to eliminate the bevel gear set. However, when a single engine is used and not mounted on the centerline of the machine, it generally causes a left-right weight imbalance, which is a second problem. This phenomenon is exasperated by the demand for higher horsepower combines that use larger (and heavier) diesel engines. Adding to the weight imbalance is the need for pump drive gearboxes in addition to the power takeoff. These gearboxes are typically mounted to the engine flywheel housing. They are heavy and expensive and typically contain one or more clutches that require hydraulic pressure and flow for actuation and lubrication. 
         [0006]    A third problem is that crop residue that exits the combine is flammable and catches fire when it comes to rest on engine exhaust components. Combine combustion air pre-cleaning traditionally uses a collection of multiple “spin tubes” that separate dust from the combustion air prior to air filtration. The separated dust is generally evacuated from the pre-cleaner housing via a mechanically driven suction fan or exhaust venturi. Pre-cleaning is used to extend combustion air filter life. Crop debris, like soybean fuzz, is difficult to separate in the pre-cleaner, as that debris is relatively long and light compared to dust from dirt. Larger spin tubes have been designed with limited success. A fourth problem, then, is that combine filter life generally is poor due to inadequate pre-filter air cleaning. 
         [0007]    Accordingly, an air handling, flow, and filtering system that addresses these and other issues is needed. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY 
       [0008]    The disclosed harvesting combine forward unit carries two axially mounted engines with each undertaking different needed functions. The disclosed harvesting combine cooling package is mounted between the dual engines. The cooling package includes a stationary screen, a fan, two independent combustion air coolers (CAC), a radiator that is common to both engines with comingled coolant, a fuel cooler, an AC (air conditioner) condenser, and hydraulic oil cooler. The two engines share a common radiator, single air conditioning condenser, single alternator, common batteries, common fuel tank, and exhaust fluid tank. A combustion pre-cleaning “scroll” is attached to the cooling package and is actively powered by screened fan air on the inlet and turbocharger suction on the outlet (via the air filter housing). The cleaning “scroll” separates the dirt from the air using centrifugal force and exhausts the dirt with a portion of the combustion air, resulting in cleaner air entering the filter housing. 
         [0009]    A large capacity fan pulls clean air from the top of the combine forward unit and pushes it out through the rear water radiator and out onto the hot exhaust treatment system to keep all surfaces free of chaff/dust; and pushes air out through side-mounted charge air coolers and onto the hot exhaust manifolds of both engines to also keep them chaff free; pushes air out through front hydraulic cooler and forward and down into the cleaning charge air fan (located in a round ring that is in the middle of the hydraulic reservoir) that is forcing air downwardly and through plenums associated with sidesheets and bulkheads that direct the high pressure air downwardly until it reaches the upper rear portion of the cleaning fan, where it comingles with air drawn from in front of the fan. Coincident with the rear plenum bulkhead are louvers that bleed off some of this air and direct it through the wall and rearward along the side of the rotor (concaves) to effectively pre-clean the MOG from the grain shooting through the concaves by the rotor. 
         [0010]    Perhaps, 5,000 cubic feet per minute (cfm) of cooling air comingled with about 5,000 to 10,000 cfm of ambient air from above the charge fan are transported down to the cleaning fan, which likely is asking for about 30,000 cfm of air. This design is want to do this because, if we allow the cleaning fan near the ground to pull all 30,000 from in front of the fan, it will likely pull a lot of residue off the ground (inlet vortices sweeping the soil) and plug the undersides of the sieves, which is a deleterious occurrence. 
         [0011]    The air from the cleaning fan, then, is propelled rearward and upward, being squeezed by the clean grain conveyor surface, through the main (center, full length) sieves to carry away chaff from the sieves to enhance sieve capacity. This air will track mostly straight rearward and will not comingle with the bonus sieve air. 
         [0012]    These and other features will be described in detail below. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0013]    For a fuller understanding of the nature and advantages of the present method and process, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
           [0014]      FIG. 1  is a side elevation view of the articulated combine of a forward tractor or crop processing power unit (PPU) and rear grain cart in which the grain is stored; 
           [0015]      FIG. 2  is an overhead view of the articulated combine of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0016]      FIG. 3  is an isometric view of the articulated combine of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0017]      FIG. 4  is an isometric view of the PPU from the right rear side; 
           [0018]      FIG. 5  is an isometric view of the PPU from the right front side with the skin or outer shell removed; 
           [0019]      FIG. 6  is an isometric view from above of the PPU from the left rear with the skin or outer shell removed; 
           [0020]      FIG. 7  is an overhead view of the PPU with the skin or outer shell removed; 
           [0021]      FIG. 8  is a sectional view taken along line  8 - 8  of  FIG. 7 ; 
           [0022]      FIG. 9  is a right side isometric view of the PPU with the skin and left wheel/tire assembly removed; 
           [0023]      FIG. 10  is an isometric view of the chassis and frame assembly of the PPU; 
           [0024]      FIG. 11  is a top view of the PPU cooling package, including a stationary screen, a fan, two independent combustion air coolers (CAC), a radiator that is common to both engines with comingled coolant, a fuel cooler, an AC (air conditioner) condenser, and hydraulic oil cooler; 
           [0025]      FIG. 12  is a sectional view taken along line  12 - 12  of  FIG. 11 ; 
           [0026]      FIG. 13  is an isometric view of the belt assembly for the main overhead fan, gear box and cleaning charge air fan; 
           [0027]      FIG. 14  is an isometric view of the combustion pre-cleaning “scroll” that separates the dirt from the air using centrifugal force and exhausts the dirt with a portion of the combustion air, resulting in cleaner air entering the filter housing; 
           [0028]      FIG. 15  is an isometric view of cleaning fan assembly; 
           [0029]      FIG. 16  is an isometric view of the cleaning fan assembly of  FIG. 15  with the rotating fan itself removed to see the guide vanes on the divider plate; and 
           [0030]      FIG. 17  is an isometric view of the dual engines with the screened air inlet and cooling assembly removed to better see the dual engines. 
       
    
    
       [0031]    The drawings will be described in greater detail below. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0032]    Referring initially to  FIGS. 1, 2, 3, and 4 , an articulated harvester,  10 , consists of a powered PPU,  12 , a rear grain cart,  14 , and an articulation joint,  16 , that connects PPU  12  with rear grain cart  14 . The details of articulation joint  16  are disclosed in commonly owned application Ser. No. 14/946,827 filed Nov. 20, 2015. PPU  12  carries a grainhead,  18 , operator&#39;s cab,  20 , grain cleaning and handling assembly, and engines. PPU  12  is devoid of any grain storage, such being exclusive in rear grain cart  14 . While both PPU  12  and rear grain cart  14  are shown being carried by wheel assemblies, one or both could be tracked. A screened air inlet,  15 , is located atop PPU  12  where the air likely is the cleanest around harvesting combine  10 . 
         [0033]    An off-loading auger assembly,  22 , is in the folded home position and being carried by rear grain cart  14 . Grain cart  14  also bears a foldable roof,  24 , shown in an open position, but which can fold inwardly to cover grain stored in rear grain cart  14 . Foldable roof  24  may be made of metal, plastic, or other suitable material, but may be made of durable plastic for weight reduction and easy folding/unfolding. A grain storage bin is carried by grain cart  14  may be made of plastic also in keeping with desirable weight reduction; although, it could be made of metal also at the expense of weight. All plastic parts may be filled with particulate or fiber reinforcement in conventional fashion and could be laminate in construction. Further details on rear grain cart  14  can be found commonly owned application Ser. No. 14/946,842 filed Nov. 20, 2015. 
         [0034]    Referring now to  FIGS. 3 and 4 , the operator is granted access to cab  20  by a stair assembly,  26 , that extends upwardly from just above the ground and will be more fully disclosed in commonly owned application Ser. No. ______, filed ______ (attorney docket DIL 2-035). 
         [0035]    Of interest for present purposes are the various locations and assemblies for admitting air into PPU  12  for a variety of purposes. Initially, air is admitted into PPU  12  fairly centrally atop PPU  12  as indicated by arrows  31 . This location was chosen, as it arguably will be the cleanest flow of air around PPU  12 . Various arrows will be used in this description to show the general direction and location of various major air flowpaths into PPU  12 , within PPU  12 , and exhausted from PPU  12 . Additional airflow admittance into PPU  12  is from the top front thereof just behind cab  20 , as indicated by arrows  33 . A third major airflow path into PPU  12  is at the front bottom thereof between the PPU wheel/assemblies,  30 A and  30 B, as indicated by arrows  35 . Most of the air from within PPU  12  will be exhausted from the rear thereof, as indicated by arrows  61 . Fourth airflow paths are inlets at each of the two rear outer corners of cab  20  in front of the side styling panels and below the styling front hood. 
         [0036]    The skin or shell has been removed in  FIGS. 5-7  to reveal components housed within PPU  12 . Airflow  31  enters atop PPU  12  through a grate,  41 . This location was chosen, as it arguably will be the cleanest flow of air around PPU  12 . Radiators, as typified by a radiator,  34  ( FIG. 9 ), surround fan assembly  32  ( FIG. 11 ) and are coolingly connected with a pair of engines,  36  and  38  ( FIGS. 5 and 6 , respectively) located on either side of main cooling fan assembly  32 . A single air conditioning condenser,  43 , sits adjacent to radiator  34  for cooling cab  20 . Engine  38  powers the hydraulics and cooling functions/airflow movement for articulated combine  10 , while engine  36  powers all other components of articulated combine  10 . Exhaust after treatment assembly,  40 , cleans air for emission control. When firing up the engines, which typically will be diesel engines (optionally supercharged), engine  38 , which is clutched as startup, is started first so that coolant flowing through engine  38  will warm up engine  36  and the hydraulic fluid for articulated combine  10 . 
         [0037]    Further on the dual engines for combine  10  is illustrated in  FIG. 17 , which has the cooling system removed. Initially, it will be observed that engine  38  faces forward, while engine  36  faces rearward. Such arrangement ensures that hot exhaust header and turbocharger face inwardly for both engines and adjacent the incoming top airflow and centrally located cooling assembly. Engine  38  is seen driving a variety of shafts, pulleys, and belts, which are attached to and drive hydraulic pumps, such as, for example, hydraulic pump, that drive the hydraulically driven systems of combine  10 , as described herein and in the related applications cited herein. On occasion, the load on engine  38  will reach the capacity of engine  38 , while the load on engine  36  is below its capacity, such as, for example, during unloading of grain from grain cart  14 . Accordingly, a hydraulic line,  37 , typically a 1″ line, runs from a pair of hydraulic pumps,  47 , and driven by engine  38 , to a pair of hydraulic pump,  49 , driven by engine  36 . Hydraulic pumps  49  will add to the capacity of the hydraulics driven by engine  38  during times that such extra capacity is needed. Engine  36  powers crop collection device, threshing and separation (rotor), residue choppers and spreaders, grain cleaning and collection devices, some amount of propel and unloading hydraulics, and engine auxiliaries. 
         [0038]    Large capacity fan assembly  32  ( FIG. 11 ) that pulls clean air  31  from the top of PPU  12 , pushes the air out through a rear water radiator  34  ( FIG. 9 ), and out onto a hot exhaust treatment system,  40  ( FIG. 5 ) to keep all surfaces free of chaff/dust and for cooling purposes; and pushes air out through side-mounted charge air coolers,  42  and  44  ( FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 , respectively) and onto the hot exhaust manifolds,  45  and  46  ( FIG. 7 , respectively) of both engines to also keep them chaff free; pushes air out through front hydraulic cooler,  48  ( FIG. 8 ) and forward and down into the cleaning charge air fan,  50  (located in a round ring that is in the middle of the hydraulic reservoir,  51 ,  FIG. 9 ) that is forcing air downwardly and through plenums associated with sidesheets surrounding the concaves (not shown) and a forward bulkhead,  52  ( FIGS. 9 and 10 ) that direct the high pressure air downwardly until it reaches the upper rear portion of a cleaning fan assembly,  54  ( FIGS. 8 and 9 ), where it comingles with air  35  drawn from in front of fan assembly  54 . Coincident with a rear plenum bulkhead,  56  ( FIGS. 8 and 9 ), are forward bulkhead  52  louvers ( FIGS. 9 and 10 ) that bleed off some of this air,  58  (arrows in  FIGS. 9 and 10 ), and direct it through the wall and rearward along the side of the rotor (concaves) to effectively pre-clean the MOG from the grain shooting through the concaves by the rotor. Fan blades of fan assembly  32  can be rotated, reversing the air flow, cleaning the radiation  34 , condenser  43 , coolers  42  and  44 , and oil cooler  48 , of debris. 
         [0039]    Perhaps, about 5,000 to 10,000 cfm of cooling air comingled with about 5,000 to 10,000 cfm of ambient air from above charge fan  50  are transported down to cleaning fan assembly  54 , which likely is asking for about 30,000 cfm of air. This design is want to do this because, if we allow cleaning fan assembly  54  near the ground to pull all 30,000 from in front of fan assembly  54 , it will likely pull a lot of residue off the ground (inlet vortices sweeping the soil) and plug the undersides of the sieves, which is a deleterious occurrence. 0 
         [0040]    The air from cleaning fan assembly  54 , then, is propelled rearward and upward (see arrows  60  in  FIGS. 8 and 10 ), being squeezed by the clean grain conveyor surface, through the main (center, full length) sieves to carry away chaff from the sieves to enhance sieve capacity. This air will track mostly straight rearward and will not comingle with the bonus sieve air. 
         [0041]    Cleaning fan assembly  54  also is shown in further detail in  FIGS. 15 and 16 . In particular, elongate “squirrel cage” fan,  55 , is carried by a cleaning fan housing,  57 . An air guide vane,  59 , is located rewardly thereof and has a pair of spaced apart, angled guide vanes,  63 A and  63 B, on its top surface and a pair of angled, spaced apart guide vanes,  71 A and  71 B. Elongate fan  55  tends to exhaust most of its air in its central portion with a low amount of air at its ends. The deflector plates direct an amount of air to the ends of clean fan assembly  54  to even out the air flow along its widthwise extent. Deflector plate  59  is adjustable, as air the deflector plates. 
         [0042]      FIG. 10  shows the chassis and frame assembly of PPU  12  along with various of the airflows described above. Also, note that an air deflector shield,  62 , is located above exhaust air flow  61  at the rear of PPU  12  so that such dirty air does not rise above PPU  12  for re-admission thereinto. A description of the concaves and grates, and the chassis can be found in commonly-owned application Ser. No. 14/967,691, filed Dec. 14, 2015. 
         [0043]    Main fan assembly  32  is shown also in  FIGS. 11 and 12 , along with cleaning charge air fan  50 . A cleaning “scroll” chamber,  64 , separates dirt from air  65 . Air  65  from fan assembly  32  enters scroll chamber  64  using centrifugal force and exhausts the dirt with a portion of the combustion air, resulting in cleaner air entering filter housings,  66  and  68 , from which filtered air is sent to the turbochargers for the engines. 
         [0044]      FIG. 13  shows a pulley system,  70 , running around an idler,  72 , a gearbox,  74 , charge fan  50 , and main fan assembly  32 .  FIG. 14  shows scroll fan  64  and filter box  66  from which a filtered airflow,  76 , flows to a turbocharger. It should be understood that louvers  69  in scroll chamber  64  let dirty airflow,  67 , exit scroll chamber  64  and down into charge fan  50  for flow into forward bulkhead  52 . Airflow from forward bulkhead  52 , as described above, is for scavenging additional MOG and dirt from various surfaces as such scouring airflow runs towards the rear of PPU  12  for exhausting as indicated by airflow arrows  61  and for flowing down to cleaning fan assembly  54  again for scouring surfaces and carrying entrained particles (MOG and dirt) towards exhaust airflow  61 . Such air cleaning system scheme feeds mainly clean, filtered air through the turbochargers and into the engines. Less clean and dirty air, then, is used for surface scouring and exhaustion of entrained particles. Main fan assembly  32  blows air through the combustion air coolers, over the exhaust headers, radiator, and a turbocharger or supercharger. 
         [0045]    While the device and method have been described with reference to various embodiments, those skilled in the art will understand that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope and essence of the disclosure. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the disclosure without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the disclosure not be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed, but that the disclosure will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims. In this application all units are in the metric system and all amounts and percentages are by weight, unless otherwise expressly indicated. Also, all citations referred herein are expressly incorporated herein by reference.