CN114158348B - Feed roller and feed roller set for agricultural machinery and agricultural harvester - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a novel feed roll for agricultural machinery such as sugarcane and sorghum harvesters, which is constructed to prevent accumulation of harvested material at the ends of the roll, thereby improving working conditions and harvesting productivity. More specifically, the feed roll of the invention is formed by a central body (103) provided with fins (104) extending longitudinally on the central body (103), the fins being radially spaced apart and projecting outwards with respect to a longitudinal axis (y), the ends of the central body (103) comprising support bases (105) arranged to rotatably hold the feed roll (102), wherein at least one of the support bases (105) is conical and has a concentration spindle (106) arranged to guide the collected material towards the central body (103) and at least partially contain the support bases (105).

Description

Feed roller and feed roller set for agricultural machinery and agricultural harvester

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to a new type of feed roll specifically developed for agricultural machinery, such as those used for harvesting tall stalk plants, as in the case of sugar cane and sweet sorghum. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a set of feed rolls designed to be installed in agricultural machinery, more particularly in the front part of the chassis of sugarcane and sorghum harvesters.

The invention also relates to a new agricultural harvester, in particular for harvesting tall stalk plants, which incorporates a set of rollers formed by new feed rollers, so as to obtain a higher productivity in the harvesting work.

Background

According to the prior art, there are various types of agricultural machinery and equipment aimed at improving the productivity of harvesting various vegetable crops, such as in the case of grain harvesters, forage crops and so-called tall stalk plant harvesters, such as sugar cane and sorghum.

In particular with respect to the harvesters of these tall stalk plants, it is well known that they are specifically designed and developed for harvesting this particular type of crop, as their inherent characteristics require specific conditions for proper processing, from cutting the plant to transfer to a transfer device and/or skip.

Basically, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that agricultural machinery of this type for harvesting and processing tall stalk plants comprises a chassis within which is formed a processing path comprising a series of load-bearing rollers and chippers responsible for driving and chopping the sugar cane into billets which are transferred to a transfer device and/or skip by means of a lifter assembly.

There are currently known harvester models, such as those disclosed in the documents US2014/0174048 of CNH american limited and BR102015015922-6 of CNH industrial brazil limited, which are developed to receive in the front part of the machine an independent platform on which are mounted all the front components and mechanisms of conventional machines, such as splitters, dumping rollers and base cutter trays, and in some models an independent front platform can be coupled at the front part of the machine chassis, which may also be of the modular type, wherein the front module comprises a set of feed rollers, other modules responsible for transporting the collected material to the machine chassis, wherein the processing trajectory of the material continues through the carrying rollers to the chippers.

It is known in the art that harvesters for tall stalk plants, particularly those designed for harvesting multiple crop rows, collect very large volumes of material, requiring efficient operation of the feed rollers in order to be able to transport all material along the machining path in a suitable and safe manner. However, depending on the working conditions and the experience and practice of the machine operator, there is always a risk of material accumulating at the side ends of the feed rolls, affecting the working of the machine and even causing blocking and jamming of the rolls, but mainly affecting the yield and harvesting productivity.

Harvester models known in the art can be modified in an attempt to reduce the risk of material accumulation on the rollers conveying the collected material flow and thus avoid possible jams and/or adverse effects on the operation of the machine, which accumulation may require a stoppage for maintenance, which to some extent ultimately affects the efficiency and productivity of the harvesting process.

Thus, in addition to being usable even today, it is notable that the known feed rolls available in the prior art lack a practical and functional solution that eliminates or minimizes the need for premature maintenance of the agricultural machine and, more particularly, can assist in forming and transporting the collected material stream. Thus, among others, it can be said that these are objects and solutions sought for by the development of the present invention.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new feed roll for agricultural machinery, in particular for being fixed in a separate front platform on up to a stalk plant harvester, which feed roll has been designed and developed to obtain a practical and functional solution to the problems, limitations and drawbacks disclosed for feed rolls known in the prior art.

More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new feed roll comprising technical, structural and functional characteristics capable of preventing accumulation of collected material at the lateral ends of the roll, but mainly capable of assisting in the formation, guiding and transport of the material flow collected along the processing trajectory in the harvester of tall stalk plants, thus providing better working conditions and seeking to increase the productivity of harvesting.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a feed roll set that is developed for installation in an initial portion of a processing locus formed in a mechanical chassis to provide harvesting and processing of tall stalk plants in a more efficient manner.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an agricultural harvester, in particular for harvesting tall stalk vegetable crops, such as sugar cane and sorghum, which is arranged to use the above-described feed rolls.

Thus, in order to achieve the technical and functional effects outlined above, the present invention relates, among other things, to a novel feed roll installed in agricultural equipment, which feed roll is essentially formed by a central body having fins extending longitudinally thereon, said fins being radially spaced apart and projecting outwardly with respect to a longitudinal axis (y). The end of the central body comprises support bases arranged to rotatably hold the feed rolls, at least one of the support bases having a tapered form, comprising a concentration spindle arranged to direct the collected material towards the central body and at least partially containing the support base.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the conical support base and the centering mandrel are arranged on the outside of the central body of the feed roll.

Alternatively, according to another embodiment of the feed roll of the invention, the concentration mandrel may extend at least partially over the central body of the roll. Furthermore, the concentration mandrel may be segmented such that each segment is disposed between two fins.

Furthermore, according to another possible embodiment of the invention, the concentration spindle may be coupled and fastened to the fins by means of respective connection elements, such as grooves provided on the fins, which may correspond to protrusions provided on the edges of the sections of the concentration spindle, and which may be arranged side by side in sequence.

In another embodiment of the invention, the support bases provided at the two ends of the central body of the feed roll are in a conical arrangement and further have a concentrated mandrel.

Furthermore, according to another embodiment of the invention, the central body of the feed roll may comprise a closed arrangement by means of a cylindrical housing from which the fins protrude.

Furthermore, the invention relates to a set of feed rolls arranged for an agricultural machine, said set being formed by a series of feed rolls mounted downstream of a base cutter set of the machine, at least one of these feed rolls being said feed roll arranged and mounted as commented above.

According to a possible embodiment of the feed roll set of the invention, the feed roll set may be mounted on the structural body of the front module of the chassis when the chassis of the agricultural machine is for example a modular type chassis, or at the inlet of the chassis when the chassis is of the unitary type.

In addition, according to another embodiment of the invention, the set of feed rollers consists of a series of rollers, the free ends of which are aligned longitudinally and coincide with the lateral ends of the processing trajectory of the material collected along the chassis of the machine.

Furthermore, according to another possible embodiment, the distance between the free ends of the concentration spindles of the feed rolls is equal to the length of the processing trajectory of the material collected along the bottom disc.

According to a particular embodiment of the invention, the arrangement of the set of feed rolls is initially formed by: at least one lifting roller overlapping an upper carrying roller, followed by a feed roller of unidirectional type overlapping another upper carrying roller, and at least one subgroup of feed rollers of bidirectional type below and at least one above. More specifically, according to another embodiment of the invention, only one end of the feed roller of the unidirectional type is formed by a support base of conical shape provided with a concentration spindle, whereas both ends of the feed roller of the bidirectional type are fitted with support bases of conical shape provided with a concentration spindle, the free ends of which can be aligned in the longitudinal direction.

Finally, as also mentioned above, the present invention also relates to an agricultural harvester, in particular for harvesting tall stalk plants, formed by a chassis and arranged to receive a set of feed rollers formed by a series of feed rollers, at least one of said feed rollers of the agricultural harvester being arranged as characterized above. The agricultural harvester according to the invention is particularly useful for harvesting sugar cane and/or sweet sorghum.

Drawings

The features, advantages and technical effects of the present invention will be better understood by those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of an embodiment of the present invention, provided by way of example only and not by way of limitation, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1A is a schematic side view of a sugar cane and sorghum harvester, such as those known in the art;

FIG. 1B is a schematic partial side view of the internal components of the harvester also associated with the platform, showing material flow through the process trajectory;

FIG. 2A is a side view of a front portion of a sugar cane and/or sorghum harvester;

FIG. 2B is a side view of a front module of the chassis of the harvester with a separate front platform coupled for harvesting sugarcane and/or sorghum, as shown in detail A of FIG. 2A;

FIGS. 3A and 3B show perspective views of a feed roll according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of another embodiment of a feed roll according to the present invention; and

FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of a feed roll according to another embodiment of the invention;

fig. 6 shows the front module of the chassis of the harvester according to the invention without any side protection plates in order to see the feed roll set;

fig. 7 shows a bottom view of the front module of the chassis of the harvester shown in fig. 6.

Detailed Description

The present invention will now be described with respect to particular embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. The schematic drawings and their dimensions and/or proportions may not be practical because they are intended to describe the invention in a teaching manner. In addition, certain well-known and commonly-known construction details may have been omitted for clarity and conciseness of the description set forth below. The reference numbers used throughout the figures are repeated to indicate identical or analogous elements. Any terms used, such as "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "right", "left", and the like, and variants thereof, should be construed in accordance with the guidance provided in fig. 1A.

As used herein, terms such as harvesters, harvesting machines and variants thereof are used to implicitly represent agricultural machines intended to harvest vegetable crops, and in this specification are used to harvest tall stalk plants such as sugar cane, energy cane, sorghum, and the like.

Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1A illustrates a side view of an embodiment of an agricultural machine 10 according to aspects known in the art. As shown, machine 10 is arranged as a sugar cane harvester. However, in other embodiments, machine 10 may correspond to any suitable type of agricultural harvester known in the art.

With further reference to FIG. 1, machine 10 includes a chassis 12, a pair of front wheels 14, a pair of rear wheels 16, and an operator compartment 18. Machine 10 may also include a source of touch energy (e.g., a motor mounted on chassis 12) that powers one or both pairs of wheels 14, 16 through a transmission (not shown). Alternatively, machine 10 may be a belt-driven harvester, and thus may include belts driven by motor mechanisms in place of wheels 14, 16 as shown. The motor mechanism may also drive a hydraulic fluid pump (not shown) that is arranged to generate pressurized hydraulic fluid to drive various hydraulic components of machine 10, including wheels or belts.

In addition, machine 10 may include various components for cutting, processing, cleaning, and unloading sugar cane as it is collected from plantation 20. For example, machine 10 may include a terminal cutting group 22 at its forward end for intercepting sugar cane as machine 10 moves forward, as indicated by arrow "X" in FIG. 1A. As shown, the end cutting group 22 may include a collection tray 24 and a cutting tray 26. The collecting tray 24 may be arranged to collect sugar cane stalks so that the cutting tray 26 may be used to cut the ends of each stalk. Typically, the height of the end cutter 22 is adjustable by a pair of arms 28 that are hydraulically raised and lowered as desired by the operator.

Further, harvester 10 can include a wire divider 30 extending upwardly and rearwardly from field 20. In general, the wire divider 30 may include two spiral feed rolls 32, also referred to as a "lollipop type structure". Each feed roll 32 may include a ground shoe 34 because its lower end helps the wire divider 30 separate the cane stalks for harvesting. Further, as shown in fig. 1, harvester 10 can include a dump roller 36 positioned adjacent front wheel 14 and a roller 38 with protrusions positioned behind dump roller 36. As the dumping rollers 36 rotate, the collected sugar cane stalks are dumped, and the wire dividers 30 collect the stalks from the crop field 20 toward the interior of the machine 10. Further, as shown in FIG. 1A, the raised rollers 38 may include a plurality of intermittently mounted fins 40 that help force the sugar cane stalks downward. As roller 38 is rotated during harvesting, the cane stalks dumped by dumping roller 36 are sorted, and then dumped by roller 38 as machine 10 continues to move forward relative to field 20.

With further reference to FIG. 1A, machine 10 may also include a base cutter set 42 located behind roller 38. As is generally understood, the base cutter set 42 may include blades (not shown) to cut the cane stalks as they are collected. The blades located at the periphery of the set 42 may be rotated by a hydraulic motor (not shown) driven by a mechanical hydraulic system. Further, in various embodiments, the blades may be angled downward to cut the base of the cane as it is poured by the rollers 38.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1A, machine 10 may include a set 44 of one or more carrier rollers downstream of base cutter set 42 to move the sugar cane stalks cut from base cutter set 42 along the processing trajectory. As shown in fig. 1, the set of load rolls 44 may include a plurality of lower rolls 46 and a plurality of upper rolls 48. As the sugar cane is conveyed through the set of bearing rollers 44, residues (e.g., pebbles, dirt, and/or the like) may also be conveyed or fall through the lower rollers 46 onto the field 20.

Further, as can be seen in fig. 1A, machine 10 may include a chipper set 50 (e.g., adjacent the rearmost lower and upper carrier rollers 46, 48) at the downstream end of the carrier roller set 44. In general, the chipper group 50 can be used to cut or chop sugarcane stalks of a cell phone into smaller pieces or "chips" 51, which can be measured, for example, as 15.24 centimeters (six (6) inches), also known as billets or tops. The chips 51 may then be pushed toward the elevator assembly 52 of the machine 10 for collection in external receptacles or storage devices (not shown), such as transfer devices and skids.

As is generally understood, pieces of residue 53 (e.g., dust, dirt, leaves, etc.) that are separated from the pieces of sugarcane 51 may be discharged from machine 10 through a primary extractor 54 positioned and oriented by chipper set 50 to direct residue 53 out of machine 10. In addition, a fan 56 may be mounted on the primary extractor 54 to create a suction force or a vacuum sufficient to capture the residues 53 and force the residues 53 through the primary extractor 54. Residue 53 is then directed outwardly through the outlet of primary extractor 54, typically in a direction opposite machine 10. The sorted chips 51, which are heavier than the residue 53 discharged by the extractor 54, may then fall onto the elevator assembly 52.

According to the present description, the elevator assembly 52 should be construed as generally including an elevator housing structure 58 and an elevator 60 extending within the elevator housing structure 58 between a lower proximal end 62 and an upper distal end 64. The lower proximal end 62 is secured to the machine 10 and the upper distal end 64 has an opening 82 for draining the collected material.

In additional or alternative embodiments, the riser 60 may include a chain or conveyor 66 and a plurality of paddles or slats (vanes) 68 coupled or spaced apart in a uniform manner in the chain 66. Laths 68 may be arranged to secure fragments 51 of sugar cane in lifter 60 when fragments 51 are lifted to an upper portion 70 of lifter 60. Further, the elevator 60 may include a lower gear 72 and an upper gear 74 positioned about the proximal end 62 and the distal end 64, respectively. As shown in fig. 1A, elevator motor 76 may be coupled to one of the gears (e.g., upper gear 74) to drive chain 66, thereby allowing chain 66 and lath 68 to travel in an endless loop between proximal and distal ends 62, 64 of elevator 60. .

In addition, pieces of residue 53 (e.g., dust, dirt, leaves, etc.) sorted from the pieces 51 of sugar cane may be discharged from machine 10 through a secondary extractor 78 coupled to the rear end of elevator housing structure 58. As shown in fig. 1A, secondary extractor 78 may be positioned adjacent distal end 64 of elevator 60 and may be oriented to direct residue 53 to the exterior of machine 10. In addition, a fan 80 may be mounted on the secondary extractor 78 to create a suction force or a vacuum sufficient to extract the residues 53 and force the residues 53 through the secondary extractor 78. The sorted chips 51, which are heavier than the residue 53 discharged through the extractor 78, may then fall from the distal end 64 of the elevator 60. Typically, the chips 51 may fall through the discharge opening 82 of the elevator assembly 52 into an external storage device (not shown), such as an automobile, a transfer device, a skip, or the like.

During operation, machine 10 is driven through entire crop field 20 to harvest sugarcane or any other tall stalk plant. Once the height of the end cutters 22 is adjusted (if used) by the arms 28, the collection trays 24 in the end cutter package 22 may function to collect the sugar cane ends as the machine 10 travels through the field 20, while the cutting trays 26 cut the tips of the sugar cane stalks to dump them along both sides of the machine 10. As the stalks enter the wire divider 30, the shoes 34 may be arranged in a fixed or adjustable manner for the length of operation to determine the amount of sugar cane entering the mouth of the machine 10. The lollipop structure 32 then collects the stalks at the machine's entrance to allow the dumping roller 36 to flex the stalks downward in conjunction with the action of the roller 38 having protrusions. Once the stalks are positioned at the angle as shown in fig. 1A, the base cutter set 42 may cut the base of the stalks of the field 20. The cut stems are then directed to a set of carrying rollers 44.

The cut cane stalks are conveyed rearwardly by the bearing rollers 46, 48 which compress the stalks and the harvest. At the downstream end of the carrying roller set 44, a chipper set 50 cuts or chops the compacted cane stalks into small pieces or chips 51. The conveyed residue 53 (e.g., dust, dirt, leaves, etc.) separated from the pieces 51 of sugar cane is then extracted by a primary extractor 54 using suction created by a fan 56. The sorted/cleaned chips 51 then fall onto the elevator assembly 52 and travel upwardly through the elevator 60 from the proximal end 62 thereof to the distal end 64. During normal operation, the debris 51 falls to an external storage device through the discharge opening 82 as the debris 51 reaches the distal end 64 of the elevator 60. Similar to primary extractor 54, the residue is blown out of machine 10 by secondary extractor 78 with the aid of extractor fan 80.

Harvester 10 as described above may be, for example, a machine known in the art, such as a sugar cane harvester produced by CNH industries and commercialized under the trademark Case IH, which may also be adapted to include and receive a separate front platform for harvesting sugar cane and sorghum, as schematically illustrated in fig. 1B, 2A and 2B.

Referring to fig. 1B, 2A, and 2B, it may be noted that the independent front platform (P1) is coupled, for example, at an inlet end of a front module (P2) of chassis 12 of machine 10. The individual front platform (P1) is basically formed by a structure on which are mounted wire dividers 30 formed by groups of "lollipop structures" 32, each of which includes its ground shoes 34, a dump roller 36, a roller 38 with protrusions, and a base cutter group 42. For example, the front module (P2) of the chassis 12 is arranged to be wrapped in the middle module of the chassis 12 of the harvester 10 on the one hand, and comprises an inlet 10a, on the other hand, at which the processing trajectory of the machine 10 starts. The front module (P2) of the chassis 12 generally provides a set of carrying rollers 44 formed by a series of lower rollers 46 and upper rollers 48 and responsible for dragging and guiding the collected material towards the chipper rollers 50 for cutting into blanks 51 which are sorted from the lighter residues 53 by operation of a fan 56 of a primary extractor 54. The blanks 51 are then transported to the elevator assembly 52 and the secondary extractor 78 before being unloaded into, for example, a skip or transfer device.

Referring now specifically to fig. 2A and 2B, it may be noted that the front module (P2) of the chassis 12 may include a structural body 100 in which a roll set 101 is mounted, in which case it may be referred to as a feed roll. The set of rollers 101 is formed by a series of feed rollers 102 designed and arranged to improve and facilitate the collection of material shortly after cutting by the blades of the base cutter set 42 and further to convey the collected material in an oriented manner along the processing path, i.e., from the inlet 10a of the front module (P2) of the chassis 12 to the chipper rollers 50 of the machine 10.

Thus, based on the above description, referring now to fig. 3A, 3B, 4 and 5, it is noted that said feed roller 102 according to the invention is formed by a central body 103 provided with fins 104 radially spaced apart to assist in conveying the collected material, which fins extend in the longitudinal direction and project outwards with respect to the longitudinal rotation axis (y). The end of the central body 103 comprises a support base 105 arranged to rotatably hold the feed rolls 102 in combination with an action mechanism on the structural body 100, at least one of the support bases 105 being conical and comprising a collecting mandrel 106 at least partly containing the support base 105 and arranged to guide the collected material towards the central body 103.

According to a specific embodiment of the invention, as shown in fig. 3A and 3B, the conical support base 105 with the centering mandrel 106 is located on the outer end of the centering body 103 so as to be positioned at the side end of the collected material flow. The feed roll 102 in this mode is configured to be unidirectional and may be particularly useful at the entrance of the structural body 100 of the front module (P2) of the chassis 12, primarily when the platform is used to harvest multiple rows of crop, which ultimately processes large amounts of material, thus requiring more careful guiding and dispensing of the material along the processing trajectory on the chassis 12.

According to a possible embodiment of the feed roll 102, the centering mandrel 106 may extend at least partially over the center body 103 according to the invention. In this case, the concentration mandrel 106 may be segmented such that each segment 106a is disposed between two fins 104.

In addition, according to one embodiment of the invention, the concentration spindle 106 may be coupled and fastened to the fin 104 by means of a respective connection element, such as a groove 104a provided on the fin 104, which corresponds to a protrusion 106b provided on the edge of the section 106a of the concentration spindle 106. Further, a series of slots 104a may be arranged side by side on the fins 104 to enable selection of the pitch of the mandrels 106 when the feed roll 102 is installed.

In the feed roller 102 according to another mode of the other embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 4 and 5, support bases 105 provided at both ends of a center body 103 are arranged in a tapered shape, and a centering mandrel 106 is also provided. In these cases, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the feed roll 102 may be mounted on an upper portion of the structural body 100 of the front module (P2) of the chassis 12, with a view to the purpose of this arrangement to prevent the initial volume of collected material from entering the machine 10, which tends to be larger and more concentrated in the front module of the chassis 12, accumulating at the lateral ends of the feed roll 102.

Alternatively, according to another mode of the feed roller 102 of the invention and better shown in the diagram of fig. 5, the central body 103 can be closed by a cylindrical housing 107 from which the fins 104 protrude. This pattern of feed rolls 102 may be advantageously employed in the rear portion of the structure 100, bearing in mind that its arrangement provides a more uniform and suitable material flow delivery that is already distributed to some extent better along the length of the processing trajectory.

For example, as better shown in fig. 6, the set of feed rolls 101 may consist of a combination of feed rolls 102 that take on the different arrangements shown in fig. 3A, 3B, 4 and 5 and may be mounted on the structural body 100 when the chassis 12 of the machine 10 is a modular type chassis or may be mounted just in the chassis 12 when the chassis is a non-modular type chassis. The rollers are mounted at strategic locations to improve and facilitate the task of collecting material after it has been cut by the base cutter set 42 and thus transporting the collected material along its processing trajectory in a more efficient manner.

Referring now to fig. 6 and 7, the present invention also relates to a feed roll set 101 mounted on the structural body 100 and formed by a series of feed rolls 102 as described above, with the free ends 106c of the mandrels 106 of the feed rolls 102 being longitudinally aligned (as shown by the dashed lines-L1 and L2) and coincident with the side ends of the processing path of the material collected along the chassis 12.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the distance (d) between the free ends 106c of the spindles 106 of the feed rolls 102 is approximately equal to the length of the processing track of the material collected along the chassis 12.

In addition, according to another more specific embodiment of the present invention, the arrangement comprised by the feed roll set 101 is initially formed by: at least one lifting roller 108 overlapping the upper carrying roller 48, followed by a feed roller 102 of unidirectional type overlapping the other upper carrying roller 48, finally at least one feed roller 102 of bidirectional type below and at least one above is provided, and only one end of the unidirectional feed roller 102 is formed by a conical support base 105 and provided with a concentration spindle 106, while both ends of the feed roller 102 of bidirectional type are fitted with a conical support base 105 and provided with a concentration spindle 106, wherein the free ends 106c of said concentration spindles 106 are aligned in the longitudinal direction.

Still referring to fig. 6, it can be seen that at least one of the lower feed rolls 102 is open, i.e. without a cylindrical housing 107, because this arrangement with larger fins 104 proves to be more advantageous in the work of dragging the just cut material, and still close to the ground and in a more concentrated form. The upper and rear feed rolls 102 may be closed and include the housing 107 with the fins 104 below and seeking to deliver material in a smoother form to provide a distribution that is less aggressive and risky to the material being collected and processed. Logically, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, these arrangements may vary depending on the manufacturer's point of interest as well as the design project and mechanical mode.

Furthermore, according to another embodiment of the feed roll set 101 of the present invention, a series of feed rolls 102 are provided downstream of the base cutter set 42 on the chassis 12 of the machine 10, and at least one of said feed rolls 102 is arranged and mounted according to one of the embodiments of feed rolls as defined above.

Furthermore, as mentioned above, the invention also relates to an agricultural harvester 10 for up to stalk plants comprising a chassis 12 arranged to receive a set of feed rollers 101 formed by a series of feed rollers 102, at least one of which is arranged according to the features of the invention defined above, such that one of the support bases 105 of the end of the central body 103 is conical and comprises a concentrated mandrel 106.

According to a possible embodiment of the invention, the agricultural harvester is designed and developed for harvesting sugar cane and/or sweet sorghum.

It is worth mentioning that while in the figures and the above description reference is made to a mechanical mode consisting of a chassis of modular type and the feed roll set is mounted on the front module, as a person skilled in the art will appreciate, the feed roll set can be easily adapted and mounted at the entrance to the chassis of a conventional machine and made in one piece, for example, in place of the first lower 46 and upper 48 carrier rolls of the roll set 44.

Finally, in view of the above description, it is worth emphasizing that the present description is only aimed at presenting and defining exemplary embodiments of the feed rollers, feed roller sets and agricultural harvesters according to the objects of the present invention. Therefore, as will be properly understood by those skilled in the art, various modifications and combinations of equivalent elements and details are possible without departing from the scope of protection defined by the appended claims.

Claims (13)

1. A feed roll for agricultural machinery, formed by a central body (103) provided with fins (104) extending longitudinally on the central body (103), radially spaced apart and projecting outwards with respect to a longitudinal axis (y), the ends of the central body (103) comprising support bases (105) arranged to rotatably hold the feed roll (102), the feed roll (102) being characterized in that at least one of the support bases (105) is tapered and provided with a concentration spindle (106) arranged to guide the collected material towards the central body (103) and at least partially contain the support bases (105),

wherein the concentration spindle (106) extends at least partially over the central body (103), the concentration spindle (106) being segmented such that each segment (106 a) is disposed between two fins (104),

wherein the concentration spindle (106) is coupled and fastened to the fin (104) by means of a respective connecting element, the connecting element being a groove (104 a) provided on the fin (104) corresponding to a protrusion (106 b) provided on the edge of the section (106 a) of the concentration spindle (106), and

wherein the fins (104) comprise a series of slots (104 a) arranged side by side so that the pitch of the concentration spindles (106) can be selected when the feed roll (102) is mounted.

2. Feed roll according to claim 1, characterized in that the support base (105), which is conical and provided with a centering mandrel (106), is provided on the outer end of the centering body (103).

3. Feed roll according to claim 1, characterized in that the support bases (105) of the two ends of the central body (103) are arranged in a conical shape and are further provided with a centering mandrel (106).

4. Feed roll according to claim 1, characterized in that the central body (103) comprises a closed arrangement through a cylindrical housing (107) from which the fins (104) protrude.

5. A feed roll set arranged to be applied to an agricultural machine (10), the feed roll set comprising a series of feed rolls (102) mounted downstream of a base cutter set (42), the feed roll set characterized by: at least one of the feed rolls (102) is arranged and mounted for a feed roll for an agricultural machine as defined in any one of claims 1, 2 and 4.

6. The feed roll set according to claim 5, characterized in that it is mounted on a structural body (100) of a front module (P2) of the chassis (12) when the chassis (12) of the agricultural machine (10) is a modular type chassis, or at the inlet of the chassis (12) when the chassis is a monolithic type chassis.

7. A set of feed rollers according to claim 5, characterized in that it is formed by a series of feed rollers (102) and in that the free end (106 c) of the concentration spindle (106) is longitudinally aligned and coincides with the lateral end of the processing trajectory of the material collected along the bottom disk (12).

8. The set of feed rolls according to claim 5, characterized in that the distance (d) between the free ends (106 c) of the concentration spindles (106) of the feed rolls (102) is equal to the length of the processing track of the material collected along the bottom disc (12).

9. The feed roll set of claim 5, wherein the arrangement of feed roll sets is initially formed from: at least one lifting roller (108) overlapping an upper carrying roller (48), followed by a feed roller (102) of unidirectional type overlapping another upper carrying roller (48), and at least one subset of feed rollers (102) of bidirectional type below and at least one above.

10. The set of feed rolls according to claim 9, characterized in that only one end of the feed roll (102) of unidirectional type is formed by a support base (105) of conical shape provided with a concentration mandrel (106), whereas both ends of the feed roll (102) of bidirectional type are fitted with support bases (105) of conical shape provided with a concentration mandrel (106).

11. The set of feed rolls according to claim 9, characterized in that the free ends (106 c) of the concentration spindles (106) are aligned in the longitudinal direction.

12. An agricultural harvester, in particular for harvesting tall stalk plants, comprising a chassis (12) and arranged to receive a set of feed rollers (101) formed by a series of feed rollers (102), the agricultural harvester (10) being characterized in that at least one of the feed rollers (102) is arranged according to the feed rollers for an agricultural machine as defined in any one of claims 1 to 4.

13. An agricultural harvester according to claim 12, characterized in that the agricultural harvester is arranged for harvesting sugar cane and/or sweet sorghum.

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