Patent ID: 8216035

Claim:
A system for cleaning a crop flow, said system being adapted to be mounted on a fruit harvesting machine, said system including: a suction device comprising: means ( 3 ) for circulating an air flow between an inlet ( 1 ) and an outlet ( 2 ) of said device, said inlet being equipped with a hood ( 5 ) that provides a flow path for the suction air between said inlet and a suction opening ( 6 ) formed on the wall of said hood; and a drum ( 7 ) having a perforated wall, and a means for rotating said drum relative to said hood, said hood being positioned inside said drum so that the suction opening ( 6 ) faces the wall of said drum to form a suction area ( 10 ) on the exterior of said wall, said suction area being delimited angularly by respective upstream ( 10 a ) and downstream ( 10 b ) edges as defined relative to the rotation sense of said drum; a conveyor ( 11 ) for conveying the crop flow in front of the upstream edge ( 10 a ) of the suction area( 10 ); a device ( 12 , 13 ) facing the suction area ( 10 ) to recover the portion of the flow of crop that is not sucked up in said area; and a device ( 14 , 15 ) facing the downstream edge ( 10 b ) of said suction area to recover the portion of the flow of crop that has been sucked up in said area, wherein the circulation path of the hood ( 5 ) incorporates means ( 16 , 19 , 20 ) forming a deflector for the flow of suction air, said means forming a deflector being arranged to balance the speed of said flow of air along the suction opening ( 6 ).