DE102010046268A1 - Device for picking roundish object e.g. apple, has blade drum that is made by processing from about five processing units which are rotatably supported at both ends of disc, and rotated on axis about center portion - Google Patents

Abstract

The device has a blade drum, a cleaning unit, hopper unit and a drive unit. The blade drum is made by processing from about five processing units. The processing units are rotatably supported at both ends of a disc, and rotated on an axis about a center portion. The processing units are evenly distributed at a circumference of the rotating disc, and aligned by a laterally attached control arm.

Description

It is a device for the most gentle harvesting of fruit (apple, pears) from the soil surface.

The "Pomumlevator" consists of five scoop-shaped rakes that rotate on a drum (red). The direction of rotation is on the ground surface in the direction of travel. The proper movement of the rake is controlled by a laterally fixed curved path (green). The distance to the ground surface is adjusted by laterally adjustable wheels on the side of the drum. The individual tines have the shape of a blade, the tips are wedge-shaped. This gives them the ability to slide on the soil surface and possibly tear up fruit already grown in the grass and secure against rolling down when further raised. The tines are about 15 cm long and 10 cm high, with their distances to each other 3 cm.

In between is located on the drum in each case a slideway for the Aufhebegut. The drum has a diameter of about 40 cm.

The calculation width (= working width) is sensibly dimensioned due to the expected uneven ground surface at 1.2 m. In principle, calculation widths of 2 m and more can also be realized.

When the lifting process is over, the fruit rolls on a sloping downwards cleaning grid of parallel bars. A strong blower attached underneath will eventually lead upwards with the flow of air, with the fallen leaves and grass. Then the fruit rolls on a wide, upwardly directed conveyor belt. If there are still foreign objects (branches, clumped grass, stones, rotten fruit) in between, there is still the possibility to sort out by hand. At the end of the conveyor belt, the fruit is picked up by a bunker (fruit crates).

The lifting drum, blower and conveyor belt are driven by means of toothed belts or chains by an engine, primarily an internal combustion engine. But electric drive (long cable, battery) is possible.

Application:

The "Pomumlevator" finds its application in the picking up of fruits from a diameter of 5 cm to 10 cm, thus predominantly apple and pears. It is optimized for use in orchards. Basically, all spherical objects of this size can be removed, including stones. It is also conceivable to lower the tines below the soil surface and to use accordingly in horticulture.

Advantages:

• - In contrast to other known lifting techniques (hedgehog, rubber lip, straight row of tines, etc.) the fruit remains mechanically intact. There are no strong forces on it, such as in Auflesevorrichtungen with baffles. In addition, the wedge-shaped tine end prevents skewering. Also, no fruit can be pinched, as it is possible with the screw conveyor. (It has already been observed that cars loaded with fruit harvested by fruit picking machines had already run out of juice in the meadow!)
• - The fruit is not even pressed on the polluted ground, but it is slowly raised. So it never has contact with earth, which could stick it.
• - The tine distance is selected so that fruit is picked up, but impurities such as vole mounds slip in between. There is no earth lifted
• - The cleaning of the fruit of leaves, etc. is carried out immediately, so there is no time for subsequent gluing (in bad weather).
• - The working width is a good compromise between area performance (kg / h) and terrain adaptation
• - If a larger branch or pole is accidentally run over, the damage remains minimal, since the rakes at the end of the lifting process dive down and release the foreign body. This can be easily lifted after parking the drive. There is nowhere to pinch.
• - As a practical version, it is designed as a three-wheeled handlift (Appendix 2). He is also easy to realize as a self-driver to sit up. But it can also be built in a modular system, with two or more units side by side on a boom, the side of the three-point hydraulic system of a tractor. A cross conveyor belt on the boom collects the picking material of the individual units. About a trailer hitch can be carried directly as a trailer bunker. (Here, the "ProlatorVario" proves to be very useful, as the stepless side shift makes it possible to edit the space between the trees, without having to go backwards!) So you can with 3 units (= 3.6 m working width) harvest half of a row of trees in one go.
• - The "Pomumlevator" is sturdily built and can thus be acquired together or lent in the machine ring.

Function sketch:

Attachment 1

• a) The tines of the Schaufelrechens dives behind the apple under the grass on the soil surface and lifts it slightly with the wedge-shaped end
• b) The grass holds the apple while the rake slides parallel (!) to the ground surface underneath, until the apple is finally taken along by the tine back
• c + d) The apple is safely in the rake and can no longer fall down
• e) The lifting process is finished and the apple is released. For this purpose, the tines, controlled by the curved path, moves slightly back against the direction of rotation of the drum (lateral stop) and dives downwards.
• f) below the cleaning grid, the tine moves back in the direction of rotation of the drum forward (gravity) and goes back to the starting position a) over. A rotation of the drum is finished

Illustration:

Annex 2

• a) Schaufelrechen-Trommel
• b) Reinigungsrost (geneigt)
• c) Antriebsrad, links + rechts, Abstand zum Boden einstellbar
• d) Gebläsekasten
• e) Auswurf (Blätter, Gras)
• f) Förderband (Obst, gereinigt)
• g) Bunker
• h) Führungsgriff
• i) Stützrad
• j) Antriebseinheit (nicht sichtbar)

I made a drawing of what it will look like as a handguard.

• a) bucket rake drum
• b) cleaning grate (inclined)
• c) Drive wheel, left + right, distance to ground adjustable
• d) fan box
• e) ejection (leaves, grass)
• f) conveyor belt (fruit, cleaned)
• g) bunker
• h) guide handle
• i) jockey wheel
• j) drive unit (not visible)

The rotating drum with its shovel rake lifts the fruit up-up out of the grass and places it on the cleaning rack. There, a strong stream of air in the fan box, which is generated below the grate, blown up with lifted leaves and grass remains up and leave the "Pomumlevator" to the side. The leader remains completely unobstructed! The fruit rolls on the conveyor belt from the grate. Here is the advantageous attachment of the wide conveyor belt visible: the person has the tape always in the field of vision and can intervene immediately, if any stones or rotten fruit or other undesirable should be lifted. From the band, the fruit falls from low altitude in the entrained bunker. The fruit is clean and unhurt in the box and can be driven directly (eg by car) in the cider factory. It eliminates the manual cleaning and sorting.

Since the front spacer wheels are driven, the "Pomumlevator" requires little effort to guide, the person only has to steer. The third jockey wheel is freely rotatable. So is driven from the outside spiraling inwards around the tree. With 1.2 m working width, the work on a tree is already (usually) done after three or four laps.

Claims (16)

The invention "Pomumlevator" (device for gently picking up fruit from the soil surface, in particular of orchard meadows) is a picking device for collecting round bodies such as fruit (apples, pears) or stones or the like, consisting of a bucket rake drum, cleaning unit, bunker unit and drive unit , characterized in that the Schaufelrechentrommel consists of about 5 arithmetic units, which are rotatably mounted at both ends on a respective disc, which in turn rotate on an axis about the center. Reading device according to claim 1, characterized in that the arithmetic units are evenly distributed (at 5 rakes at an angle of 72 degrees) on the circumference of the rotating disk and their alignment is accomplished by a respective laterally mounted control arm. Reading device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that on the rotating axis of the disc, a further fixed disc is placed, which has the curved path for controlling the computing units and on the other side also a fixed disc is mounted. Reading device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the control arms are guided by means of ball bearings in the curved path and the geometric shape of the curved path is designed so that the arithmetic unit in the ready position (a) with the tine end in the direction of travel behind the object to be read into the grass in which sliding position (b) slides horizontally under the object, in the lifting positions (c) and (d) the zinc end turns into the vertical and then overhead, in the release position (e) by means of the fixed disc Turn the stop back into the vertical position, in the reversing position (f) turn it over again in the horizontal direction and then in the vertical position and then again in the ready position (a). Reading device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the rotation in the position (f) is ensured by appropriate weight distribution in the arithmetic unit or is supported by means of a torsion spring on the arithmetic unit. Reading device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the direction of rotation of the rotating disc on the ground in the direction of travel. Reading apparatus according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the rake tines are arranged on a computing unit at a distance of about 3 cm, in the side view represent a half-closed blade (about 15 cm long and 10 cm high) and at the front end about 1, 5 cm high triangular elevation and are made of spring steel. Reading device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that on the fixed disks each outside a height-adjustable drive wheel is mounted. Reading device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, starting from the upper point of the fixed discs, a cleaning grid extending from parallel to obliquely downwards in the direction of travel to the rear over the entire width of the arithmetic unit is provided. Reading device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that below the cleaning grid , a powerful fan is mounted and about 20 cm above the cleaning grid has a discharge of polluted exhaust air to the side. Reading device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, starting from the lower end of the cleaning grid , a conveyor belt leads obliquely upwards to the rear, whereby the height slightly exceeds that of the entrained bunker device. Reading device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the bunker together with the cleaning unit, the fixed discs of the bucket rake drum, the lateral distance and drive wheels and a third, freely rotating wheel below the bunker and a guide handle form a coherent chassis. Reading device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the drive of the Schaufelrechentrommel, the conveyor belt and the drive wheels by a motor located on the chassis (combustion or electric motor) by chain or belt drive is ensured and the drive of the fan can also be controlled independently (Electronics). Reading device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the embodiment as a hand guide device has a working width of about 1.2 m and can also be designed as Aufsitzgerät. Reading device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a single arithmetic unit but only with a width of 0.3 m-0.5 m provided with a handle as a hand rake can be performed. Reading device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that several bucket rake drums (about 2 or 3) can be arranged with cleaning unit in the modular principle laterally next to each other along a boom on the tractor three-point hydraulic attachment as a device, wherein a collecting conveyor along the boom the groupage of the individual Pick up conveyor belts and deposit them in a bunker or directly on a trailer.

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