ES2228237A1 - System for collecting and transporting bunches of grapes, has cooling ducts extended into wall and floor of hopper and trailer, where trailer is connected to collection machine that is provided with hopper - Google Patents

Abstract

The system has a collection machine provided with a hopper (2) for collecting bunches of grapes. A trailer is connected to the collection machine. The hopper and the trailer are provided with cooling ducts (3, 4) for cooling the grapes. The cooling ducts are extended into a wall and a floor of the hopper and the trailer.

Description

Cluster collection and transport system of grape.

The present invention relates to a system of collection and transport of grape clusters, which allows bunches are always refrigerated to prevent grapes ferment.

Background of the invention

Currently the vineyard harvest is carried out by fully automated way through harvesting machines. These harvesting machines pass over the vineyards and collected clusters are deposited in a hopper of said machine combine harvester.

Then the clusters are deposited in a trailer for transport to the winery where the grapes are processed for the elaboration of wines and champagnes.

The inconvenience of the systems of collection and transport of the current grape clusters is that the temperature at which the clusters are is not adequate until Get to the warehouse where they are processed. This temperature is due to that the clusters are outdoors and at room temperature, both in the hopper as in the trailer. An excessively high temperature causes the grapes to ferment, which is not desirable.

Description of the invention

With the system of the invention they are achieved solve the aforementioned problems, presenting other advantages that They will be described.

The cluster collection and transportation system of Grape of the present invention comprises a picking machine provided with a hopper where the collected clusters are placed, and a trailer where the collected bunches are deposited for transport, and is characterized by the fact that said hopper and said trailer comprise cooling means to maintain Chilled grape clusters inside.

Thanks to this feature, grape clusters collected are always refrigerated at the right temperature, preventing grapes from fermenting.

According to a preferred embodiment, said means of cooling are formed by some conduits for liquid refrigerant that extend into the walls and / or floor of the Hopper and trailer.

Preferably, said ducts are located on the walls of the hopper and at the bottom of said trailer.

Advantageously, said ducts are lined of a plate, through which the cold caused by the coolant of said ducts.

Also advantageously, said hopper and said Trailers comprise an outer insulating layer.

Preferably, said insulating layer is foam of polyurethane.

To avoid the cold coming out, said hopper and said trailer comprises a cover, comprising an insulating layer external

To get the right temperature, said trailer includes some cold air outlets in its part higher.

Brief description of the drawings

For a better understanding of how much has been exposed Some drawings are accompanied in which, schematically and only to non-limiting example title, a case study of realization.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a grape bunch collection machine that is part of the system of the present invention;

Figure 2 is an elevational view of the hopper of the collection machine of the sectioned figure 1; Y

Figure 3 is a perspective view partially sectioned from the trailer where the grape clusters collected, which is part of the system of the present invention

Description of a preferred embodiment

As can be seen in Figure 1, a vineyard harvester, generally indicated by the numerical reference 1, comprises a hopper 2 where the Grape clusters that are collected when passing said harvester machine 1 through the vineyard

The rest of the harvester 1 is not describes, since it is conventional and not part of the present invention.

Hopper 2 comprises on its walls a series of ducts 3, through which coolant passes. Covering said conduits 3 is a plate 4, which is what Spread the cold along the entire hopper 2. Around the Hopper 2 is provided with a foam insulation layer 5 of polyurethane.

Hopper 2 also comprises a lid 6 for prevent the clusters of grapes that have been picked up from the air free. This cover 6 also comprises an insulating layer 7 of Polyurethane foam.

Grape clusters harvested by machine depicted in figure 1 are placed in hopper 2 at a suitable temperature so that they are refrigerated. Without losing the cold chain, the clusters pass from this hopper 2 to a trailer 8, represented in figure 3.

This trailer also comprises a series of conduits 9 for the passage of coolant. In this case, the ducts 9 are located at the bottom of said trailer 8, covered by a plate 10, which is responsible for distributing the cold to along the entire trailer 8.

Also in this case, the trailer 8 is provided of a cover 11, and both the trailer 8 and the cover 11 are covered with an insulating layer of polyurethane foam.

In addition, the trailer 8 also comprises 12 cold air outlets on top to get the adequate temperature inside.

With trailer 8, the collected bunches are transport to the warehouses receiving them, where they are treated in a conventional way to make wine or cava.

Although reference has been made to a concrete embodiment of the invention, is evident to an expert in the matter that the collection and transport system described is susceptible of numerous variations and modifications, and that all the mentioned details can be replaced by others technically equivalent, without departing from the scope of protection defined by the appended claims.

Claims (10)

1. System for collecting and transporting grape clusters, which includes a collection machine (1) provided with a hopper (2) where the collected clusters are placed, and a trailer (8) where the collected clusters are deposited for transport , characterized in that said hopper (2) and said trailer (8) comprise cooling means (3, 4; 9, 10) to keep the grape clusters refrigerated inside. 2. System according to claim 1, characterized in that said cooling means are formed by conduits (3, 9) for coolant that extend into the walls and / or floor of the hopper (2) and of the trailer (8). 3. System according to claim 2, characterized in that said ducts (3) are located in the walls of the hopper (2). System according to claim 2, characterized in that said ducts (9) are located at the bottom of said trailer (8). 5. System according to any of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that said ducts (3, 9) are covered with a plate (4, 10), through which the cold caused by the coolant extends inside said ducts (3, 9). System according to claim 1, characterized in that said hopper (2) and said trailer (8) comprise an external insulating layer (5). 7. System according to claim 6, characterized in that said insulating layer (5) is made of polyurethane foam. System according to claim 1, characterized in that said hopper (2) and said trailer (8) comprise a lid (6, 11). 9. System according to claim 8, characterized in that said cover (6, 11) comprises an external insulating layer. 10. System according to claim 1, characterized in that said trailer (8) comprises cold air outlets (12) in its upper part.