WO2020202175A1

WO2020202175A1 - A sugarcane harvester with improved basecutter gearbox assembly

Info

Publication number: WO2020202175A1
Application number: PCT/IN2020/050244
Authority: WO
Inventors: Kaushik Anilbhai DAMANI
Original assignee: Tirth Agro Technology Pvt. Ltd.
Priority date: 2019-03-29
Filing date: 2020-03-17
Publication date: 2020-10-08
Also published as: AU2020251526A1; CN113710086A; CN113710086B; MX2021011714A

Abstract

A Sugarcane Harvester with Improved Basecutter Gearbox Assembly The present invention relates to a sugarcane harvester and more 5 particularly it relates to a sugarcane harvester with an improved basecutter gearbox assembly. An improved basecutter gearbox assembly comprises a configuration of basecutter gearbox which is depicted as basecutter unit. As depicted, the input interface is a splined connector, configured to receive the output shaft of hydraulic motor. The input interface configured such that 10 rotational power received at interface by one hydraulic motor causes the pinion gear (2) to rotate. The pinion gear (2) in turns rotates the main gear (1) and idler timing gear (3). The idler timing gear (3) then rotates the main gear (4). The said gears used at the base cutter gearbox use an optimum helix angle designed to sustain and alleviates load on each tooth and creates smooth 15 transition of forces from one tooth to the next. Resulting less vibration, wear, noise and longer life.

Description

A SUGARCANE HARVESTER WITH IMPROVED BASECUTTER

GEARBOX ASSEMBLY

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to a sugarcane harvester and more particularly it relates to a sugarcane harvester with an improved base cutter gearbox assembly. BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

There are several types of sugarcane harvesters are on field which harvest the growing sugarcane stalks by cutting the cane at its base, and then transferring the cut sugarcane to a collector vehicle such as a cane wagon or cane cart. The sugarcane harvester may include different types of harvesting devices. The harvesting devices for a sugarcane harvester can include assemblies for cutting, chopping, sorting, transporting, and gathering and processing sugarcane plants. Generally, the harvesting devices include crop divider assembly, knockdown roller assembly, base cutter assembly, feed rollers, cutting drums, and so on.

For dynamic crop harvesting, a harvester may move along a field with abovementioned harvesting devices, where the harvesting devices perform collecting and processing of material from rows of crop plants. The base cutters are constructed to minimize the quantity of earth fed into the harvester with the crop. Prior art base cutter gear box at cane harvesters had spur-gears whose surfaces have rolling contact, but the teeth are cut straight across on a face; one or two teeth are always in contact with another gear. This incomplete face engagement means spur gears are noisier and vibrate more than helical gears.

Furthermore, the prior arts base cutter gear box with spur gears has much shorter life spans than helical gears. After about three years they are usually replaced. And frequent replacement requires more capital and drives up maintenance, downtime, and waste-disposal costs.

Furthermore, in the prior arts base cutter gear box is that it causes too much noise and vibration means low precision and limited life. Rotating machines that are noisy and vibrate can have any number of quality issues: improperly balanced rotating components; mating components with excessive tolerances; and components that are not rigid enough, flexing under load and leading to misalignment.

Furthermore, disadvantage of the prior arts base cutter gear box is that the second quality indicator gets excessively heated. It equates to low efficiency and wasted energy. Heat generation in rotating machines can also have many causes, including inefficient design, misalignment, incorrect fits, and seal drag. Low-quality gear reducers are major contributors to excessive energy consumption. These gearboxes get extremely heated. Hence, there is a desperate need for inventing a sugarcane harvester with an improved base cutter gear assembly to avoid the noise and vibration. Misalignment, excessive energy consumption, incorrect fits, seal drag and overheating.

OBTECT OF INVENTION

The main object of the present invention is to overcome the problem associated with base cutter gearbox assembly of sugarcane harvester by providing an improved base cutter gear assembly for proper harvesting at fields.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved base cutter gearbox assembly to sustain and alleviates the load on each tooth and creates a smooth transition of forces from one tooth to the next, less vibration, wear, and noise, and longer life.

Further object of the present invention is to provide an improved base cutter gearbox assembly to allow achieving a high-efficiency gear mesh.

Yet, another object of the present invention is to provide an improved base cutter gearbox assembly to increase efficiency and providing efficient design to nullify misalignments, incorrect fits, seal drag and overheating. Yet, another object of the present invention is to provide an optimized base cutter gear box.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to a sugarcane harvester and more particularly it relates to a sugarcane harvester with an improved basecutter helical gearbox assembly. An improved basecutter helical gearbox assembly has an configuration which is depicted as basecutter unit. As depicted, the input interface is a splined connector, configured to receive the output shaft of the hydraulic motor. The input interface is configured such that the rotational power received at the interface by one hydraulic motor causes the pinion gear to rotate. The pinion gear in turns rotates the main gear and idler timing gear. The idler timing gear then rotates the main gear. The said gears used at the base cutter gearbox uses an optimum helix angle designed to sustain and alleviates the load on each tooth and creates a smooth transition of forces from one tooth to the next, hence, less vibration, wear, and noise, and longer life.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 illustrates a schematic line diagram of a basecutter gearbox assembly for a sugarcane harvester according to the present invention. Fig.2 illustrates parts of a base cutter gearbox assembly for a sugarcane harvester according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION

Before explaining the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of the construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompany drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiment, as depicted in different figures as described above and of being practiced or carried out in a variety of ways. It is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.

Harvesting is a crucial component of sugarcane production system. Manual sugarcane harvesting requires farmers to cut sugarcane stalks by hand with machetes or knives due to which sugarcane farmers usually become fatigued after a few hours of work and require frequent breaks. Manual sugarcane harvesting causes muscle and joint injuries. Mechanical harvesters alleviate the strenuous physical activity and dangers associated with manual harvesting. Sugarcane harvesters prepare large quantities of sugarcane for production in a short amount of time. A sugarcane harvester is a large piece of agricultural machinery used to harvest and partially process sugarcane. Essentially a storage vessel on a truck with a mechanical extension, the machine cuts the stalks at the base, strips the leaves off, and then cuts the cane into segments. These are then deposited into either the on-board container, or a separate vehicle traveling alongside. Waste material is then ejected back onto the field, where it acts as fertilizer.

The sugarcane combine harvester having a topper in advance of a crop divider mechanism with the crop divider aiding in moving sugarcane to knock down feed roll, base cutter, a feed roll system, a chopping system, a cleaning arrangement viz. primary extractor and an elevator system including a secondary cleaning arrangement viz. secondary extractor. The present invention particularly concern with an improved base cutter assembly.

Now, as shown in Fig.l, said base cutter assembly comprises a base cutter, a helical gearbox assembly connected to the base cutter and a hydraulic motor for driving said helical gearbox assembly. Said base cutter comprises a pair of ratable base cutters (7a, 7b) having projecting blades (8a, 8b) to sever sugar cane sticks from their roots. The pair of rotatable base cutters (7a, 7b) is directly connect to the said helical gear box assembly through vertical shaft (6a, 6b) due to which the base cutters (7a, 7b) starts rotating to harvest the stalks at the base, strips the leaves off, and then cuts the cane into segments.

Now referring fig. 1 & 2 in combination, Said gearbox assembly comprises a main gear (1) and (4) having plurality of serrations on outer periphery thereof; a pinion gear (2) having plurality of serrations on outer periphery thereof and mesh with the serration of the main gear (1); an idler timing gear (3) that accommodate a splined connector having plurality of serrations on outer periphery and mesh with the serration of the pinion gear (2) and main gear (4). the said main gears (1, 4), the pinion gear (2) and the idler timing gear (3) having an optimum helix angled tooth designed to sustain and alleviates load on each tooth and creates smooth transition of forces from one tooth to the next resulting less vibration, wear, noise and longer life. Tooth profiles of the gears are very precise. The units are packaged in sealed. Oil- filled housing requires no oil changes. Said base cutters (7a, 7b) are connected to the main gear (1, 4) through the vertical shaft (6a, 6b) respectively. The pinion gear (2) is driven by the motor (5) through the splined connector being connected to the shaft of the motor (5).

As it illustrates, during operation the input interacts with the splined connector, configured to receive the output shaft of the hydraulic motor (5). The input interface is configured such that the rotational power received at the interface with help of hydraulic motor (5) due to which the pinion gear (2) starts rotating. The pinion gear (2) in turns rotates the main gear (1) and idler timing gear (3) due to which the main gear (4) starts rotating. The said helical gear box is positioned above the base cutters (7a, 7b) within the throat of the harvester. The base cutters (7a, 7b) are positioned between the harvester's front wheel so that the cutting height is unaffected by pitching of the harvester when traversing uneven terrain. The rotation of main gear (1, 4) in turns rotates the base cutter (7a, 7b) through the vertical shaft (6a, 6b). The invention has been explained in relation to specific embodiment. It is inferred that the foregoing description is only illustrative of the present invention and it is not intended that the invention be limited or restrictive thereto. Many other specific embodiments of the present invention will be apparent to one skilled in the art from the foregoing disclosure. All substitution, alterations and modification of the present invention which come within the scope of the following claims are to which the present invention is readily susceptible without departing from the spirit of the invention. The scope of the invention should therefore be determined not with reference to the above description but should be determined with reference to appended claims along with full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

Claims

We Claim:

1. A sugarcane harvester with improved base cutter gear box assembly, comprising a pair of rotatable base cutters (7a, 7b), a helical gear box assembly connected to the base cutter (7a, 7b) and a hydraulic motor (5) for driving said helical gearbox assembly;

said pair of ratable base cutters (7a, 7b) having projecting blades (8a, 8b);

Characterized in that said gearbox assembly comprises a main gear (1) and (4) having plurality of serrations on outer periphery thereof; a pinion gear (2) having plurality of serrations on outer periphery thereof and mesh with the serration of the main gear (1); an idler timing gear (3) that accommodate a splined connector having plurality of serrations on outer periphery and mesh with the serration of the pinion gear (2) and main gear (4).

2. The sugarcane harvester with improved base cutter gear box assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said main gears (1, 4), the pinion gear (2) and the idler timing gear (3) having an optimum helix angled tooth.

3. The sugarcane harvester with improved base cutter gear box assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein said base cutters (7a, 7b) are operatively connected to the main gear (1, 4) through vertical shafts (6a, 6b) respectively.

4. The sugarcane harvester with improved base cutter gear box assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pinion gear (2) is driven by the motor (5) through the splined connector (2) being connected to a shaft of the motor (5).

5. A working method of sugarcane harvester with improved base cutter gear box assembly comprising following step:

a) receiving rotational power from hydraulic motor (5) to the spline connector through output shaft;

b) rotating the pinion gear (2) through spline connector;

c) rotating the main gear (1) and the idler timing gear (3) through the pinion gear (2);

d) rotating the main gear (4) through the idler timing gear (3).

e) rotating the pair of rotatable base cutters (7a, 7b) by the vertical shaft (6a, 6b) through the main gear (1, 4) respectively.