Vehicle for displacing feed lying on a floor in a sideward displacement direction

• US 10,117,416 B2
• Filed: 01/31/2014
• Issued: 11/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lely Patent N.V. (Lely)
• Original Assignee: Lely Patent N.V. (Lely)
• Inventors: Steen, Geert Cornelis, Stegink, Heine
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Trinh T
• Application Number:
  US14/771,073
• Publication Number:
  US 20160000035A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,740 Days
• Field of Search: 119 5791, 119 5792, 119 571
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 1/01 Removal of dung or urine, e.g. from stablesA01K1/015 takes precedence; from poultry houses A01K31/04
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 1/0128 by means of scrapers or the like moving continuously
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 1/105 Movable feed barriers, slides or fences
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 5/02 Automatic devices automatic identification devices for stock A01K11/006
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 5/0266 with stable trolleys, e.g. suspended
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0088 characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours using knowledge based models G06N5/00

Abstract

A vehicle for displacing feed includes a frame with wheels having a plurality of elongate tread portions and grooves, a motor for moving the vehicle in a moving direction, and a material displacer to displace the material, when the vehicle moves in the moving direction, over the floor towards a first side with respect to said moving direction. At least a majority of the tread portions is arranged such that they extend, when in contact with the floor, in a direction that makes a sharp angle with the forward direction opposite said first side. Thus, diagonal tread portions are predominantly directed to one side to counteract a reaction force of the feed being displaced sidewardly by the vehicle.

Claims

1. A vehicle for displacing material such as feed, comprising:

a frame with a plurality of wheels having a tread pattern with a plurality of elongate tread portions and grooves;

a motor device operably coupled to at least one of the plurality of wheels for moving the vehicle over a floor in a moving direction; and

a material displacer coupled to the frame, and arranged to displace the material, when the vehicle moves in the moving direction, over the floor towards a first side with respect to said moving direction,

wherein at least a majority of the tread portions is arranged such that the tread portions extend, when in contact with the floor, in a direction that makes a sharp angle with a forward direction opposite said first side.

2. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein said sharp angle is between 45 and 90°

.

3. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the tread portions comprise mutually parallel tread portions.

4. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the tread portions extend over an entire width of the tread.

5. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the grooved tread portions have a depth and the raised tread portions have a width, wherein the width is smaller than 3 times the depth.

6. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein at least two of the plurality of wheels have a mutually translationally identical tread pattern.

7. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle is an autonomous unmanned vehicle.

8. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the material displacer comprises a feed displacer configured to displace feed substantially sidewardly.

9. The vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising:

two wheels that are separately drivable by a separate drive;

a distance determining device configured to determine a distance from the vehicle to a wall portion;

a torque difference adjusting device configured to adjust the torque difference between the wheels; and

a control unit configured to control the vehicle and move the vehicle in a direction of travel.

10. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein said sharp angle is between 45 and 75°

.

11. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein said sharp angle is 60°

.

12. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the tread portions comprise straight, linear tread portions.

13. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the tread portions consist of straight, linear tread portions.

14. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein each one of the tread portions extends over an entire width of the wheel.

15. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the grooved tread portions have a depth and the raised tread portions have a width, wherein the width is smaller than 2 times the depth.

16. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the material displacer comprises a feed displacer configured to displace feed substantially sidewardly, the feed displacer comprising a feed slide or a circular element freely rotatable for frictional drive with the ground and/or the feed.

17. The vehicle according to claim 2, wherein the tread portions comprise mutually parallel tread portions.

18. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the tread portions and grooves of the plurality of wheels are configured in such a manner that upon moving of the vehicle in the moving direction, the tread patterns of the plurality of wheels, in interaction with the floor, together generate a force acting on the vehicle having a component in a sideward displacement direction.

19. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the tread pattern of the plurality of wheels of the entire vehicle is asymmetrical with respect to the moving direction.

20. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of wheels include a left wheel and a right wheel, and a majority out of all the tread portions of the left wheel and right wheel extend in the same direction that makes the sharp angle with the forward direction opposite said first side.