CN111936238A

CN111936238A - Apparatus and method for comminuting root crops and determining constituents in root crops

Info

Publication number: CN111936238A
Application number: CN201880091998.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: F·弗里德霍夫; E·希尔舍
Original assignee: KWS SAAT SE and Co KGaA
Current assignee: KWS SAAT SE and Co KGaA
Priority date: 2018-03-29
Filing date: 2018-03-29
Publication date: 2020-11-13
Also published as: EA202092091A1; MA51499B1; MA51499A1; WO2019185149A1; JP7362645B2; JP2021524799A

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus for comminuting root crops into substantially equal size pieces, the apparatus comprising: a main frame having an inlet side and an outlet side; a root crop supply structure on an inlet side; at least one pulverizing shaft rotatably supported in the main frame, the pulverizing shaft being provided with a plurality of bending hooks bent in a rotating direction of the pulverizing shaft; and a non-rotating cutting rake having a plurality of protrusions and recesses and forming a pair of blades for the hook, wherein the hook is arranged for interleaved movement with the recesses of the non-rotating rake. Furthermore, the invention relates to a system and a corresponding method.

Description

Apparatus and method for comminuting root crops and determining constituents in root crops

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an apparatus for comminuting root crops into substantially equal size pieces, an apparatus for determining the composition of root crops and a corresponding method.

Background

In the cultivation of root crops, the determination of the content plays an important role. Root crops for the purposes of the present patent application are root crops such as sugar beet, fodder beet, red beet and radish and tuber crops such as potato, yam and jerusalem artichoke. Cultivation involves the continuous, systematic selection of suitable root crops with respect to, for example, biomass yield, composition or disease tolerance. To enable this selection, the content of these crops needs to be analysed regularly. This is associated with a high investment in terms of labour and costs. At the end of their turn, however, the success of breeding programs depends on a rapid and reliable analysis of the content of root crops.

For cultivation and testing purposes, root crops are planted in the field in so-called "plots". A plot represents a predetermined area of land on which a plurality of crops can be planted, the number of which provides a statistical indicator of the nature and distribution of the crop yield. In the production of sugar beets, typically about 90 beets per plot are found. The plots were evaluated for sugar beet productivity and after uprooting, the sugar beet content was analyzed. This analysis is performed by means of conventional tandem techniques which provide high accuracy. However, the goal is to minimize the cost of the analysis.

The structure and composition of the sample used for analysis is critical to the accuracy of determining the amount. It should be taken into account in particular that the concentration of the quality-determining components varies from plant to plant due to the influence of genetic, crop-growing and, above all, environmental factors on the growth. Furthermore, an uneven distribution of the concentration of the relevant ingredients is also found within individual root crops such as sugar beets, as well as within the bulk or potato tuber. This heterogeneity of the analysis objects leads to high sampling requirements, which have been solved to date for sugar beets, radishes and potatoes by producing so-called paste-like samples. Although this procedure has been improved over time in the analysis of beet pulp (DE 2611636B 1) and potato mash (Ziolko and Jehle (2002), GIT Laboratory Journal 2000, 268-. Due to this unrepresentative sampling, significant distortion may occur in the measurement of the components.

Automated laboratories are known in which the composition is determined in a continuous manner after extraction of a slurry sample with aluminium sulphate or lead acetate. Furthermore, near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has been demonstrated to be useful for analyzing crop components tested in the laboratory, for mashed raw potato samples, potato pulp samples, beet pulp samples, industrial juices, and specific byproducts of beet sugar (Haase (2006),

58, (6) 268 and 273; heppner et al (2000), Sugar Industry, 125No.5, 325- & 330; fernandez et al (2008), Journal of Near Infrared Spectroscopy 16, 105-. This spectroscopic method allows the simultaneous determination of several analytes in a sample, allows rapid results to be obtained, and avoids the use of reagents. Thus, it reduces the cost and time of the analysis.

To date, the use of NIRS as an analytical measurement method to determine the composition in root crops has been limited by the laboratory environment and therefore has the following disadvantages: in addition to the actual analysis, many other sample preparation processing steps are required, including activities such as autumn harvesting, cleaning, collection, storage, packaging, labeling, freezing, and transporting the samples to a research laboratory. This increases the cost and time of the overall analysis.

For cereals, corn and grasses, near infrared spectroscopy has been used in conjunction with harvesters for real-time analysis of materials (WO 99/58959 a 1). Here, a Near Infrared (NIR) probe consisting of a directed light source and sensor is directed towards the stream of harvested material, which includes grain, even harvested shredded corn or turf.

In practice, however, it has been found that in this way a lack of controllability of the shredded material can begin to separate before analysis, with the result that a distortion of the analysis results occurs. In addition, known harvesters are not suitable for analyzing root crops of a single plot.

Furthermore, a method with the following steps is known from US 2010/0216114 a 1: finely dividing the root crop of the plot into finely divided, substantially equally sized, fragments, generating a stream of finely divided fragments of the root crop and transporting the finely divided fragments of the root crop by means of a transport device, homogenizing or homogenizing the stream of finely divided fragments of the root crop, irradiating the stream of finely divided fragments of the root crop with light in the near infrared range, recording the reflected radiation, converting the radiation into spectral signals, processing the spectral signals to determine the composition. In the same document, an apparatus for carrying out the process is also disclosed, which comprises a device for reducing root crops into finely divided pieces, a conveying device, a device for equalizing the flow of reduced root crops, and a measuring device for identifying and quantifying the composition.

Even though equipment for reducing root crops into finely divided pieces is effective, it has been shown that the specific reduction and structure of root crop pieces is critical for subsequent analysis using the NIRS method. The root crop pieces must be substantially equal in size, neither too large nor too small, and relatively dry. The inventors of the present invention have found that mashed root crops are difficult to analyze, and so are the root crops that are too large to be cut into pieces. Therefore, there is a need for improvements of the known devices.

Disclosure of Invention

According to one embodiment of the invention, an apparatus for comminuting a root crop into substantially equally sized pieces comprises: a main frame having an inlet side and an outlet side; a root crop supply structure on an inlet side; at least one pulverizing shaft rotatably supported in the main frame, the pulverizing shaft being provided with a plurality of curved hooks, preferably curved toward a rotation direction of the pulverizing shaft; and a non-rotating cutting rake having a plurality of recesses and preferably protrusions and forming a pair of blades for a hook, wherein the hook is arranged for interleaved movement with the recesses of the non-rotating rake. The hooks are curved and may have a smaller axial dimension than the axial length of the respective pulverizing shaft. The rake also has a sealing function and ensures that only fragments of sufficiently reduced size can pass to the outlet side. The hook is adapted to break up pieces of the root crop, rather than cut it. They split the pieces from the root crop of the entire crop, so the pieces are rather dry and do not include a flat, moist cutting surface. To support this function, the hook may include a blade portion at the distal end.

According to another embodiment, the height of the cutting rake is adjustable for adjusting the vertical distance to the shredding axis. As the distance between the cutting rake and the grinding shaft increases, the pieces of the ground root crop tend to be larger, while the reduced distance makes the pieces of the ground root crop smaller. In addition, the rotational speed of the pulverizing shaft may be adjusted to obtain such an effect. In one embodiment, the comminution shaft is connected to a drive, in particular a motor drive, for driving the comminution shaft. Typically, the crushing shaft rotates at a speed of 300 to 1000rpm, and higher rotation speeds reduce the size of the pieces and vice versa.

In yet another embodiment, the apparatus includes a cleaning rake adjacent to or opposite the cutting rake for stripping root crop pieces from the hook. When the hook is rotated upward again, it is desirable to peel away pieces that are pierced by or adhered to the hook. In addition, such cleaning rakes also have a sealing action so that debris larger than the recesses between the projections of the rake cannot pass to the outlet.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the apparatus comprises a de-jamming device for de-jamming jammed root crops from the rake. It may happen that the root crop sticks in the device and is no longer crushed, as it may be in a position where the hook cannot reach, or the hook is blocked by the root crop. It may also happen that the root crop is cut by the hook in one position and the hook moves only through the root crop, while the root crop does not move anymore and therefore does not shatter other pieces. The de-jamming device may be used to de-jam such root crops and may comprise one or more elements, such as a rod which may be moved upwardly or in any other direction, for moving the jammed root crops into engagement with the hook again.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the device may comprise a set of first and second crushing shafts supported in the frame, wherein the first and second crushing shafts are arranged for counter-rotation, wherein one rake provided between the crushing shafts has oppositely arranged protrusions and recesses. The rake positioned between the shafts is a cutting rake. In addition, the two cleaning rakes are preferably arranged at opposite sides away from the cutting rake.

In a further embodiment, two such sets of first and second crushing shafts are arranged side by side in a parallel manner, so that at least four crushing shafts are provided in one device.

According to another embodiment of the invention, a method for producing substantially equal-sized pieces of a root crop comprises: a) as described above and in further detail below, the vertical height of the cutting rake, the rotational speed of the shredding shaft and the length of the plurality of curved hooks are adjusted in the apparatus for shredding root crops according to the desired size of the pieces; b) loading the root crop into the apparatus, and c) comminuting the root crop into substantially equally sized pieces.

According to another embodiment of the invention, an apparatus for determining composition in a root crop comprises: apparatus for comminuting root crops into substantially equal size pieces, the apparatus comprising a main frame having an inlet side and an outlet side; a root crop supply structure on an inlet side; at least one pulverizing shaft rotatably supported in the main frame, the pulverizing shaft being provided with a plurality of curved hooks, preferably curved toward a rotation direction of the pulverizing shaft; and a non-rotating cutting rake having a plurality of recesses and preferably protrusions and forming a pair of blades for a hook, wherein the hook is arranged for interleaved movement with said recesses of the non-rotating rake; the apparatus for determining composition in a root crop further comprises: a conveying device for conveying a stream of root crop fragments; a homogenizing roller for homogenizing the stream of root crop shavings; and a measuring device for identifying and quantifying the component.

In yet another embodiment of the invention, a method for determining the composition in a root crop comprises the following steps in the following order: comminuting the root crop into finely divided fragments of substantially equal size using a means for comminuting the root crop into substantially equally sized pieces, generating a stream of finely divided fragments of the root crop, and conveying the finely divided fragments of the root crop by means of a conveying means; homogenizing or uniformly distributing finely divided pieces of the root crop in the stream; irradiating a stream of finely divided pieces of the root crop with near infrared light; recording the reflected and/or absorbed radiation; converting the radiation into a spectral signal; and processing the spectral signals to determine the composition; wherein the apparatus for comminuting root crops into substantially equal size pieces comprises: a main frame having an inlet side and an outlet side; a root crop supply structure on an inlet side; at least one pulverizing shaft rotatably supported in the main frame, the pulverizing shaft being provided with a plurality of curved hooks, preferably curved toward a rotation direction of the pulverizing shaft; and a non-rotating cutting rake having a plurality of recesses and preferably protrusions and forming a pair of blades for a hook, wherein the hook is arranged for interleaved movement with said recesses of the non-rotating rake.

Drawings

Embodiments of the invention will be described in detail hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus for determining composition in a root crop;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an apparatus for comminuting root crops;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the apparatus of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the device of FIGS. 2 and 3;

FIG. 5 is another cross-sectional view of the device of FIGS. 2 and 3;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a shredder shaft including curved hooks;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the hook;

FIG. 8 is a side view of the hook of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is another cross-sectional view of the apparatus for comminuting root crops;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a first clearing element;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a second element;

FIG. 12 is a flow chart of a method for determining composition in a root crop.

Fig. 13 is a flow chart (a) of a method for producing substantially equally sized pieces of root crops, and in B shows a series of equally sized pieces of sugar beet produced by different adjustments of the rotational speed of the crushing shaft and the vertical height of the cutting rake: a. the rotation speed was 400rpm and the cutting rake was located at a lower vertical height. b. The rotation speed was 400rpm and the cutting rake was located at a higher vertical height. c. The rotation speed was 800rpm and the cutting rake was located at a higher vertical height. d. The rotation speed was 800rpm and the cutting rake was located at a lower vertical height.

Detailed Description

In fig. 1, an apparatus 1 for determining the composition in a root crop is schematically shown: the clean root crops of the plot are collected in a hopper 13 of funnel shape. As will be described in detail below, the root crop moves from the hopper 13 to the apparatus 14 for comminuting the root crop into substantially equally sized pieces. In the apparatus 14, the root crop is reduced to substantially uniform sized pieces. The apparatus 14 includes a main frame 15 having an inlet side 20 and an outlet side 22. Root crop pieces 24 fall onto and are deposited on the apparatus 2 (e.g. conveyor 5) for transport. The speed of the conveyor 5 is adjustable and adapted to the reduced speed of the root crop, but the accumulation of cuttings from the device 14 on the conveyor 5 does not result in a flat surface. Thus, on the conveyor belt 5, the accumulated root crop pieces 24 enter the chamberThe device 3 provides a relatively uniform distribution of the sample flow. The device 3 has a roller 6 in the form of a long shaft, which roller 6 is at a constant and fixed distance D above the conveyor belt 5 along a roller axis 7₁And (4) arranging. Using this roller 6, the sample flow of the comminuted root crop 24 is compressed to a certain thickness, so that a flat surface is obtained. The distance between the roller 6 and the conveyor belt 5 is adjustable; preferably between 100mm and 150 mm.

The motor drives the roller 6 and rotates it in the direction of travel of the conveyor belt 5, as indicated by the arrow. The motor may be driven electrically, hydraulically or pneumatically. In a preferred embodiment, the movement of the roller 6 is coupled with the drive of the conveyor belt 5.

As the ground root crops 24 contact the roller 6 they are spread on the conveyor belt 5 and are subjected to a compressive force which varies with the distance between the roller 6 and the conveyor belt 5. The sample of root crop 24 thus compressed is thus given a flat surface and a constant height.

In embodiments of the invention, the roller preferably comprises a smooth surface, such as a polymer surface or a steel surface. The polymer surface may be provided as a polymer layer on the frame structure of the roll 6, or the entire, substantially all of the roll 6 may be formed of polymer. It has been shown that a smooth surface is advantageous to make the flow uniform. Furthermore, it is preferred that the surface has low adhesion characteristics, such as a non-stick surface or a non-stick coating. In an alternative embodiment, it may also be beneficial to provide additional rollers when the flow rate of the root crop mass 24 is large.

Below the conveyor belt 5, blocks 25 may be provided to provide a counterpart to the pressure against the roller 6. The blocks 25 ensure that the conveyor belt 5 is not pushed downwards with respect to fig. 1, thereby ensuring that the flow of crushed root crop 24 has substantially D after passing the roller 6₁Of (c) is measured.

In one embodiment of the invention, the

scrapers

8A, 8B, 19 are provided on the roller 6 and/or the conveyor belt 5 and continuously clean the roller surface and the conveyor belt 5 during operation, thus avoiding cross-mixing of two root crop samples of a continuously processed plot. In addition, the root crop sample 24 may be excluded from being passed onLumps or build-up on the belt 5 and the roller 6, which would otherwise seriously disturb the relative homogenization of the sample flow. Preferably, the scraper is a scraper 8A located directly in front of the roller 6 with respect to the direction of movement of the conveyor belt 5. It is particularly preferred that the scraper 8A is cleaning the roller surface above the rotational axis of the roller, i.e. the scraper 8A is positioned or affects the roller surface above the rotational axis 7 of the roller. For processing beets, the optimum distance D between the axis of rotation of the roller and the scraper 8A₃About 20 mm.

Immediately downstream of the roller 6 is a device which determines the composition in the root crop 4 using a sensor head 9, for example having a light source 10 and a sensor 11 for detecting radiation reflected or absorbed from the flat surface of the root crop sample stream 24 in the wavelength range 850nm to 1650nm (e.g. an NIR or THz spectrometer). The sensor head 9 is positioned at a fixed distance of 200mm to 250mm above the surface of the flat sample stream 24 and can be pivoted relative to the sample stream 24 as required, for example parallel or at a 90 degree angle in the direction of the conveyor belt. In this way, for example, the entire width of the sample stream 24 may be sensed and recorded.

The sensor 11 continuously records the reflected or absorbed radiation and transmits it via the optical fibre 17 to the spectrometer 18, which spectrometer 18 converts the spectrally resolved radiation wavelength to a digitised part at regular intervals of 40 ms. Thus, during the flow-through of the root crop sample stream, hundreds of such spectra are produced, which are filtered and averaged by the processor 12. By comparison with suitable calibration data, the identity and concentration of mass components such as sugars, starches, crude proteins, crude ash, crude fibre content, crude fats, anions or cations, NDF (neutral detergent fibre), ADF (acid detergent fibre), (acid detergent lignin), Hemicellulose (HCEL) or Cellulose (CEL) are determined and output with high accuracy.

It has been shown in the past that it is important to obtain a substantially uniform flow of ground root crop 24 having fragments of the same size and no excess liquid being drained from the block. The liquid tends to reflect light, which makes determination of the root crop composition more difficult. Tests have been carried out with root crop shredders, which are commonly used for dicingRoot crops to produce animal feed. However, these devices are not strong enough to break up the entire stream of plots and may also result in uneven fragments. Additionally, the shredder has been tested; however, the results are poor because the pieces of the root crop are very uneven and the pieces are widely dispersed in size. Further testing was conducted with a root crop saw and shredder, the root crop having been reduced to normal pulp, brown pulp, juice, large pieces (e.g. 15-20 cm)³) Small pieces (3-8 cm)³) And about 500 and 800cm³The slicing of (3). When using pulp, normal pulp or brown stock, the results are shown to be inaccurate, which may be the result of rapid degradation of the material. When using finely divided fragments, the problem is that a small water film appears on the fragment, which may disrupt NIRS or THz spectroscopy, since the water film cannot be penetrated by radiation. The slices of root crops have a negative effect, when the slices are stacked on top of each other or not completely cut evenly, the distance between their stream on the conveyor belt and the sensor head may vary. It is therefore important to obtain a uniform and homogeneous stream of particles that is relatively dry, has a uniform root crop crumb size and a relatively flat surface.

Providing a flow of such comminuted root crop may be achieved by means of the apparatus 14 for comminuting root crops according to the invention.

In a first perspective view as shown in fig. 2, there is shown an apparatus 14 for comminuting a root crop into substantially uniformly sized pieces. The device includes a frame 15, the frame 15 being substantially rectangular and including first and second oppositely disposed heads 30, 32 and first and second oppositely disposed

sides

34, 36. All

sides

30, 32, 34, 36 are arranged at right angles to each other, thus building a frame. On the inlet side 20, a hopper 13 will normally be placed, which for simplicity is not shown in fig. 2 (see fig. 1).

According to this particularly preferred embodiment, within the main frame 15, four pulverizing

shafts

40, 41, 42, 43 are rotatably supported. The pulverizing

shafts

40, 41, 42, 43 will be described in more detail below with reference to fig. 6.

The axial ends 44, 45 (see fig. 6) of the pulverizing

shafts

40, 41, 42, 43 are received in

bearings

46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, respectively. The

bearings

46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53 are formed as roller bearings, in particular as oblique roller bearings, to support the high forces acting on the crushing

shafts

40, 41, 42, 43 during the crushing of root crops.

Two of the four crushing

shafts

40, 41, 42, 43 form one set, in this embodiment the crushing

shafts

40, 41 form a first set of crushing shafts and the crushing

shafts

42, 43 form a second set of crushing shafts. Only one of the crushing

shafts

41, 43 of each set is provided with a

drive shaft extension

54, 55, which drive

shaft extension

54, 55 protrudes through the

respective bearing

48, 52 and can be engaged with a respective drive shaft of a drive motor or the like. Within the housing part 33 of the second head plate 32, a transmission 56 is provided for each set of crushing

shafts

40, 41, 42, 43, wherein the transmission 56 is visible in fig. 4. The transmission 56 includes a first transmission gear 57 mounted on the pulverizing shaft 41, which is engaged with a second transmission gear 58 fixed to the pulverizing shaft 40 (see fig. 6). By the meshing of the two transmission gears 57, 58, the rotation of the crushing shaft 41 can be transmitted to the crushing shaft 40 so that the crushing

shafts

40, 41 of the first group of crushing shafts rotate at the same speed. Due to the transmission 56, they rotate in opposite directions. It will be appreciated that for the second set of crushing

shafts

42, 43, the same transmission means are provided in the housing 33. Generally, the two sets of crushing

shafts

40, 41, 42, 43 are formed identically, and the reason for providing four crushing

shafts

40, 41, 42, 43 is mainly to increase the throughput and performance of the apparatus 14.

Referring to fig. 6, the pulverizing

shafts

40, 41, 42, 43 (in fig. 6, only one pulverizing shaft 40 is shown; however, the design of the pulverizing

shafts

40, 41, 42, 43 is substantially the same) are provided with a plurality of hooks 60 (only one is denoted by a reference numeral in fig. 6). The hooks 60 are all formed identical to each other, but are disposed offset from each other and around the circumference of the pulverizing shaft 40. The crushing shaft 40 comprises a main shaft part 62 and two

extensions

44, 45 for being received in

bearings

46, 47, respectively. According to this embodiment, the main shaft portion 62 has a rectangular shape having four surfaces at substantially 90 ° from each other. The main shaft part 62 is provided with through holes 64, 65 (also only two are indicated with reference numbers in fig. 6) which are arranged in an alternating manner through the main shaft part 40. That is, the through

holes

64, 65 are alternated, with a first through hole being provided in a first direction and a second through hole 65 being provided in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction of the first through hole 64. The through holes parallel to each other are offset by a value of 20mm to 80mm, preferably 30mm to 50mm in an embodiment of the invention, and 40mm in this particular embodiment. This value may depend on the size of the hook 60 and on the type of root crop to be reduced. For sugar or feed beet, 40mm has been shown to be the preferred range.

Further, the hooks 60 in the through

holes

64, 65 parallel to each other are also alternately arranged so that they alternately protrude in opposite directions. Each hook 60 includes a hook portion 66 (see fig. 7 and 8) and a mounting portion 67. Between the hook portion 66 and the mounting portion 67, a flange portion 68 is provided, the flange portion 68 serving as a seat when the corresponding hook 60 is placed in one of the through

holes

64, 65. The respective hook 60 is pushed with its mounting portion 67 through the through-

holes

64, 65 and with its flange portion 68 into contact with the spindle portion 40, so that the hook 60 is in a defined position. The flange portion 68 may be designed to have a square cross-section as shown in fig. 7 or alternatively an oval cross-section. The flange portions 68 fit in corresponding pressed or milled recesses in the

comminution shafts

40, 41, 42, 43. The mounting portion 67 is provided with a threaded portion 69, which threaded portion 69 functions together with a nut 70 comprising a correspondingly provided internally threaded portion (see fig. 6). As indicated by the movement arrow M, each hook 60 is bent in the direction of movement of the respective crushing

shaft

40, 41, 42, 43.

The design of the hook is particularly shown in fig. 7 and 8 and will now be described. The hook portion 66 includes a substantially rectangular cross-section having two parallel sides 72 and a rear surface 73 and a front surface 74. The front surface 74 and the rear surface 73 are curved and partially circular in shape. The radius of curvature of each of the front surface 74 and the rear surface 73 is different from each other, and the radius of the front surface 74 is slightly larger than the radius of curvature of the rear surface 73. This is not absolutely necessary, but is beneficial in this embodiment. However, it should be understood that the opposite is also possible, and the curvature of the rear surface 73The radius is greater than the radius of curvature of the anterior surface 74. According to this embodiment, the radius of curvature R of the rear surface₁In the range of 20mm to 40mm, in particular in the range of 34 mm. Radius of curvature R of anterior surface 74₂Also in the range of 20mm to 40mm, in this particular embodiment in the range of 35 mm. The tapered shape of the hook portion 66 is due to each radius R₁、R₂Central point P of₁、P₂The center point P of₁、P₂Through the thickness D of the base 75 of the hook portion 66₂And (4) offsetting. Thickness D₂In the range of 5mm to 15mm, in this particular example it may be in the range of 10 mm. Thus, point P₁And P₂Also about 10mm, resulting in a tapered shape of the hook portion 66.

Hook portion 66 includes a sharp edge 77 at end 76, which sharp edge 77 is angled inwardly and merges into front surface 74 via a tab 78. The edge portion 77 is relatively sharp and has a small radius, in particular a radius in the range of 0.1mm to 0.3 mm. The length of each hook 60, as measured from the edge portion 77 to the centre of the base 75, is in the range 20mm to 80mm, preferably 30mm to 50mm, especially about 40 mm. With this particular arrangement of the hook portions 66, as the grinding

shafts

40, 41, 42, 43 rotate, the edges 77 will cut into the respective root crop and cause embrittlement, grinding or flaking of portions of the root crop due to the tapered or wedge shape of the hooks 60. When measuring the extension angles α and β of the part-circular portion formed by the rear surface 73 and the front surface 74, the extension angle α is in the range of 45 ° to 90 °, in particular in the range of 60 ° to 80 °, more preferably about 75 °. Similarly, the extension angle β is shorter to provide a wedge-shaped portion at the edge 77, and is in the range of 30 ° to 80 °, in particular in the range of 40 ° to 60 °, and more preferably in the range of 50 °.

The length of the hook plays an important role, and the longer the hook is, the better the root crops can be crushed (namely, the generation of a large amount of abrasion and the leakage of a large amount of liquid such as water and the like can be prevented) and the blockage removal is reduced; however, the longer the hook, the larger the fragment produced. This may interfere with the homogenization process of the finely divided crumb stream, which provides for subsequent compositional determination and determination of the composition by, for example, spectroscopic methods.

Returning now again to fig. 2 to 5, when the crushing

shafts

40, 41, 42, 43 are rotated, in particular in a counter-rotating movement, they need a counterpart for supporting the root crop to be cut. The counterpart is formed by cutting

rakes

80, 82, wherein one cutting

rake

80, 82 is provided for each of the first and second sets of crushing

shafts

40, 41, 42, 43, respectively. Each cutting

rake

80, 82 is formed identically and comprises a

longitudinal bar

83, 84, which

longitudinal bar

83, 84 extends from the head 30 to the head 32 and is attached to them by means of a respective mounting plate 85, 86 (see fig. 5). By means of these mounting

plates

85, 86, the cutting rakes 80, 82 are attached to the main frame 15. The cutting rakes 80, 82 comprise a plurality of metal plates 87 attached to the

rods

80, 82, respectively, and offset from each other in the axial direction such that they form protrusions 88 and recesses 89 to mate with the hooks 60 on the

respective pulverizing shafts

40, 41, 42, 43. The projection 88 and recess 89 are provided for movement with the hook 66 and to provide counter support or a blade for the root crop to be cut. In addition, the protrusions 88 and the recesses 89 provide a sieving function, which can be inferred from, for example, fig. 3 and 5, the function of which is to prevent root crop pieces larger than a certain size from being transferred to the outlet side 22.

The vertical height of the cutting rake 80, 82 (see fig. 5) is adjustable by means of mounting

plates

85, 86. Although the cutting rakes 80, 82 are shown in a neutral position in fig. 5, they may be mounted further upwardly, thereby reducing the size of the ground root crop pieces, and may also be attached to the lower portion of the main frame 15 so that larger root crop pieces may be cut from the root crop. However, in the upward direction, this position is limited by the cutting circle C, which is the circle connecting the moving points of the edges 77 of the hooks. The

rods

83, 84 cannot move further upwards, otherwise contact will occur between the edge 77 and the

rods

83, 84.

In addition to the cutting rakes 80, 82, two cleaning rakes 90, 91, 92, 93 are provided for each of the first and second sets of crushing

shafts

40, 41, 42, 43, respectively. The cleaning rakes 90, 9192, 93 extend along and parallel to the crushing

shafts

40, 41, 42, 43. They are formed as counterparts to the cutting rakes 80, 82. Cleaning rakes 90, 91, 92, 93 are attached to the

heads

30, 32 or

side panels

34, 36 of the main frame 15. They can be adjusted in height position, even if this is not particularly essential for the invention. As the hooks 60 move upwardly, they respectively serve to clear jammed or adhered root crop pieces from the hooks 60. Thus, they prevent the movement of the pieces of uncut root crop from the inlet side 20 to the outlet side 22. Since the cleaning

rake

90, 91, 92, 93 does not have to have a high force; they are therefore made of sheet metal, in particular stamped and bent from sheet metal, so that they have a substantially angular shape. Also, protrusions 95 and recesses 96 are formed at the cleaning rakes 90, 91, 92, 93 by punching to move alternately with the hooks 60 when the pulverizing

shafts

40, 41, 42, 43 are rotated. In a preferred embodiment, the cleaning

rake

90, 91, 92, 93 is stabilized by a gusset 99, the gusset 99 being secured by welding, as shown in fig. 5.

In the event that one or more root crops to be shredded become stuck or jammed and no longer moving, the apparatus 14 of the present invention includes a de-jamming apparatus 100. The clearing device will now be described with particular reference to figures 2, 5, 9, 10 and 11. The clearing device 100 can be used to clear blocked root crops from the cutting

rake

80, 82 or the cleaning

rake

90, 91, 92, 93. According to this particular embodiment, wherein the device 14 comprises two sets of crushing

shafts

40, 41, 42, 43, the unblocking device 100 comprises three unblocking

elements

101, 102, 103, while the second unblocking element 102 is used for the two sets of crushing

shafts

40, 41, 42, 43. The first and

third cleaning elements

101, 103 are formed substantially identically to each other, but are mirror images of each other and are arranged opposite each other. Each

cleaning element

101, 102, 103 is arranged to be movable in the vicinity of the cleaning

rake

90, 91, 92, 93. There may be additional de-jamming elements for de-jamming the root crops jammed at the cutting rakes 80, 82, however, this is rare and the root crops are jammed primarily at the connection or side portions between the first and second sets of

shredder axles

40, 41, 42, 43, i.e. the

side plates

34, 36. The root crop has a greater tendency to jam at the cleaning

rake

90, 91, 92, 93 because the cutting action is less than at the cutting

rake

80, 82. In order to completely cut all root crops provided to the inlet side 20, the root crops must be able to "dance", i.e. move or jump in any direction, on the rotating crushing

shafts

40, 41, 42, 43. If too many root crops are loaded into the hopper 13, it may happen that the root crops are pressed against the

rake

80, 82, 90, 91, 92, 93 and are therefore jammed. Additionally, such pressure on the root crop may result in reduced uniformity in the size of the resulting finely divided pieces, which may negatively impact the quality of subsequent compositional spectral measurements due to leakage of water or other fluids.

According to this embodiment, the clearing element 102 is in the central part and the

clearing elements

101, 103 are at the

side plates

34, 36. Each of the

dredging elements

101, 102, 103 comprises a

rod

104, 105, 106, respectively, which extends longitudinally parallel to said crushing

shaft

40, 41, 42, 43 and is movable upwards to lift the clogged root crop or root crop fragment.

The

outer clearing elements

101, 103 comprise

respective brackets

107, 108, 109, 110 between which the

rods

104, 106 extend and to which the

rods

104, 106 are attached.

Brackets

107, 108, 109, 110 are pivotally attached to the

heads

30, 32 via respective pivot hinges 111, 112, 113, 114, respectively, the

brackets

107, 108, 109, 110 being disposed generally vertically above the cutting

rake

80, 82, respectively. They may also be positioned at other locations within the scope of the present invention.

Further, at the

brackets

107, 108, 109, 110, there are attached dowel pins 115, 116, 117, 118 extending outwardly from the

respective brackets

107, 108, 109, 110. Engagement pins 115, 116, 117, 118 are provided for engagement with actuating pistons 119, 120 (see fig. 9). The actuating

pistons

119, 120 are attached to the fixed

parts

121, 122 and can be retracted relative to the right side of fig. 9 (piston 120) to a position shown on the left side of fig. 9 (piston 119). When the

pistons

119, 120 are retracted, the unblocking

elements

101, 103 pivot about the pivot hinges 111, 112, 113, 114 and, consequently, the

rods

104, 106 rise in an arched path starting from the

respective cleaning rake

90, 93 and tilt upwards towards the centre of the device 14 and, consequently, in the direction of rotation of the crushing

shafts

40, 43. Furthermore, the

bars

104, 106 are provided with corresponding through holes 124 (only indicated with reference numbers in fig. 11), thus increasing the friction between the blocked root crop and the bars 104, so that the blocked root crop can be transported towards the centre and thus be engaged again by means of the hooks 60.

The central clearing element 102 functions in a similar manner. It includes engagement portions 125, 126 (see fig. 10) which are engaged by a third pair of pistons 128 (only one shown in fig. 9, it being understood that there is a second piston on the opposite side of the device for engagement portion 125). These pistons 128 may be actuated in a parallel manner such that the entire unblocking element 102 is lifted straight upwards, but they may also be actuated sequentially such that the unblocking element 102 is pivoted and in a first step the engaging portion 125 is raised and lowered again, and in a second step the engaging portion 126 is raised and lowered again. This also has the effect that the jammed root crop is pushed towards the centre of the apparatus 14.

FIG. 13A illustrates a method 300 for producing substantially equally sized pieces of a root crop. The method according to this particularly preferred embodiment comprises the following sequence of three steps:

the method starts with the following step 301: the vertical height of the cutting rakes 80, 82, the rotational speed of the pulverizing

shafts

40, 41, 42, 43, and the length of the plurality of curved hooks 60 are adjusted according to the size of the desired pieces. Preferably, the cutting rake 80 is adjusted to a lower vertical height for smaller pieces of root crop, and the vertical height of the cutting rake 80 may be increased for larger pieces. Preferably, the crushing

shafts

40, 41, 42, 43 rotate at a speed of about 300 to 1000rpm, wherein a higher rotational speed obtains smaller pieces of the root crop and a lower rotational speed obtains larger pieces of the root crop. Preferably, the curved hook 60 has a length, measured along the centerline of the hook, in the range of 20mm to 80 mm. Other preferred designs of hooks suitable for adjustment 301 are described above in the context of device 14.

In a second step 302, the root crop is loaded onto the apparatus 14 as previously described. Preferably, loading is carried out by continuously and stably delivering root crops suitable for the capacity or performance of the apparatus 14. This may reduce or avoid the occurrence of clogging as described above.

In a third step 303, the root crop is comminuted into substantially equally sized pieces.

Fig. 13B shows a series of experiments for producing equal-sized pieces of sugar beet, which were produced by different adjustments of the rotational speed of the

comminuting shafts

40, 41, 42, 43 and the vertical height of the cutting rakes 80, 82. A rotation speed of 400rpm and the cutting rake at a lower vertical level, whereby the largest pieces (a) can be produced. The rotation speed of 800rpm and the cutting rake at the lower vertical level produced the smallest pieces (d). Fragment sizes (c) between this maximum and minimum can be produced by adjusting the rotational speed or vertical height of the cutting rake. Thus, in (b), the fragments are significantly smaller than the largest fragments, and in (c), the fragments that have been produced are slightly smaller than in (a) and significantly larger than in (b).

Fig. 12 illustrates a method 200 for determining composition in a root crop. The method according to this particularly preferred embodiment comprises seven steps in the following order:

as previously described, the method begins with step 201 of comminuting the root crop into substantially equally sized, finely divided pieces using apparatus 14. Thus, root crop is fed into the hopper 13, the

shredder shafts

40, 41, 42, 43 are actuated to rotate and provide root crop pieces on the outlet side 22. Preferably, the shredder shaft rotates at a speed of about 300 to 1000rpm, wherein a higher speed of rotation will yield smaller pieces of root crop and a lower speed of rotation will yield larger pieces of root crop.

In a second step 202, a flow of finely divided pieces of the root crop 24 is generated and the finely divided pieces of the root crop are conveyed by means of the conveying device 5. Subsequently, a step 203 of homogenization is carried out or the finely divided pieces of root crop 24 are distributed uniformly in the flow, in particular by means of a roller 6. The stream of finely divided pieces of the root crop is then subjected to an irradiation step 204 with light in the near infrared range and the reflected or absorbed radiation 205 is recorded. The recorded radiation is converted 206 into a spectral signal and a processing 207 of the spectral signal is performed to determine the composition.

Claims

1. An apparatus for comminuting root crops into pieces of preferably substantially equal size, comprising:

-a main frame having an inlet side and an outlet side;

-a root crop supply structure on the inlet side;

-at least one crushing shaft rotatably supported in the main frame, said crushing shaft being provided with a plurality of curved hooks, preferably curved towards the direction of rotation of the crushing shaft; and

a non-rotating cutting rake having a plurality of recesses and forming a pair of blades for a hook,

wherein the curved hook is arranged for interleaved movement with the recess of the non-rotating cutting rake.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the curved hook includes a blade portion at a tip.

3. The device of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the curved hook is bent at an angle of about 30 ° to 90 °.

4. The device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the curved hooks are arranged displaced from each other around the circumference of the comminution shaft.

5. The device of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the curved hook tapers towards a tip.

6. The device of any of the preceding claims, wherein the curved hook has a length, measured along a centerline of the curved hook, in a range of 20mm to 80 mm.

7. The device of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the curved hook has a curvature of 100mm²Measured at the base and/or middle of the curved hook.

8. The device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the curved hooks are axially offset from each other by a value in the range 10mm to 100 mm.

9. The device of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the curved hook is removably secured to the shredder shaft.

10. The apparatus of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the height of the cutting rake is adjustable for adjusting the vertical distance to the comminution shaft.

11. The device of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the pulverizing shaft is connected to a drive for driving the pulverizing shaft.

12. An apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the apparatus comprises a cleaning rake adjacent to or opposite the cutting rake to strip root crop pieces from the curved hook.

13. An apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the apparatus comprises a de-plugging device for de-plugging blocked root crops from a rake.

14. A device according to claim 13, wherein the clearing means comprises a first clearing element for a cutting rake.

15. Apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the first unblocking element is in the form of a rod, the longitudinal extension of which is parallel to the crushing shaft and which is movable upwards to lift a blocked root crop or root crop fragment.

16. A device according to claim 13, 14 or 15, wherein the unblocking means comprises a second unblocking element for a cleaning rake.

17. Apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the second unblocking element is in the form of a rod, the longitudinal extension of which is parallel to the crushing shaft and which is movable upwards to lift a blocked root crop or root crop fragment.

18. A device according to claim 14, wherein the first unclogging element is connected to a drive for intermittently driving the first unclogging element.

19. A device according to claim 16, wherein the second unblocking element is connected to a drive for intermittently driving the second unblocking element.

20. A device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the device comprises a hopper on the inlet side of the frame.

21. An apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the apparatus comprises a set of first and second shredder shafts supported in the frame, the first and second shredder shafts being arranged to rotate in opposite directions, wherein a rake is provided between the shafts, the rake having oppositely arranged projections and recesses.

22. The device of claim 21, wherein the shafts are formed identical to each other.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the apparatus comprises a second set of third and fourth pulverizing shafts.

24. A method for producing substantially equal-sized pieces of a root crop, comprising:

a) in an apparatus for crushing root crops according to any one of claims 1 to 23, adjusting the vertical height of a cutting rake, the rotation speed of a crushing shaft, and the length of the plurality of curved hooks,

b) loading root crops into the apparatus, and

c) the root crop is comminuted into substantially equal sized pieces.

25. An apparatus for determining composition in a root crop, comprising:

-an apparatus for comminuting root crops as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 23 to provide a stream of root crop pieces;

-a conveying device for conveying a stream of root crop fragments;

-an equalizing roller for homogenizing the flow of root crop pieces; and

-measuring means for identifying and quantifying the components.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the roller comprises a polymeric surface.

27. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the roller comprises a metal surface.

28. The device according to any one of claims 25 to 27, wherein a support for supporting the pressure of the roller is provided below the transport device.

29. A method for comminuting a root crop into substantially equal sized pieces, comprising:

-using an apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 23 to comminute root crops into finely divided fragments of substantially equal size;

30. a method for determining composition in a root crop, comprising the following sequence of steps:

-generating a stream of finely divided pieces of root crop by means of a conveying device and conveying the finely divided pieces of root crop;

-homogenizing or homogenizing the finely divided pieces of root crops in the stream;

-irradiating the stream of finely divided pieces of root crops with light in the near infrared range;

-recording the reflected and/or absorbed radiation;

-converting the radiation into a spectral signal; and

-processing the spectral signals to determine the composition.

31. The method of claim 30, the method comprising:

-feeding the root crop evenly into the device for comminuting the root crop such that the root crop can move freely on the cutting axis and bounce.