Self-propelled harvesting vehicle for crop material for technical use

• US 20090313961A1
• Filed: 06/16/2009
• Published: 12/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Claas Selbstfahrende Erntemaschinen GmbH (CLAAS KGaA mbH)
• Original Assignee: Claas Selbstfahrende Erntemaschinen GmbH (CLAAS KGaA mbH)
• Inventors: Weigelt, Horst
• Application Number:
  US12/485,474
• Publication Number:
  US 20090313961A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 56/10.20B
• CPC Class Codes: A01D 43/00 Mowers combined with apparatus performing additional operations while mowing A01D37/00, A01D39/00, A01D41/00, take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A01D 43/10 with means for crushing or bruising the mown crop

Abstract

A self-propelled harvesting vehicle includes a crop material pick-up device, a fragmentation step for fragmentizing the crop material, and a mechanical dehydration device which is used to remove an aqueous portion of the crop material, and which is divided into a first dehydration step that takes place upstream of the fragmentation step, and a second dehydration step that takes place downstream of the fragmentation step.

Claims

1. A self-propelled harvesting vehicle, comprising a crop material pick-up device;

a fragmentation step for fragmenting the crop material; and

a mechanical dehydration device for removing an aqueous portion of the crop material, said mechanical dehydration device including a first dehydration step that is located upstream of said fragmentation step, and a second dehydration step that is located downstream of said fragmentation step.

2. The self-propelled harvesting vehicle as defined in claim 1, wherein said first dehydration step includes at least one pair of compression rollers which form a compression gap through which the crop material passes.

3. The self-propelled harvesting vehicle as defined in claim 1, wherein said second dehydration step includes an element selected from the group consisting of a decanter and a screw extruder.

4. The self-propelled harvesting vehicle as defined in claim 1, further comprising a heating device for heating the crop material that passes through said second dehydration step.

5. The self-propelled harvesting vehicle as defined in claim 1, wherein said second dehydration step is configured so that it delivers dehydrated crop material having a dry-mass portion of at least 60%.

6. The self-propelled harvesting vehicle as defined in claim 1, wherein said dehydration device is configured so that it dehydrates the crop material composed substantially of cellulose.

7. The self-propelled harvesting machine as defined in claim 1, and further comprising a heat-treatment step provided downstream of said second dehydration step.

8. The self-propelled harvesting vehicle as defined in claim 7, wherein said heat-treatment step includes a thermochemical reactor for carbonizing a dehydrated crop material into reaction products selected from the group consisting of gaseous reaction products, liquid reaction products, solid reaction products, and combinations thereof.

9. The self-propelled harvesting machine as defined in claim 4, wherein said heating device is arranged so that it is supplied with heat dissipated from a thermochemical reactor of a heat-treatment step.

10. The self-propelled harvesting machine as defined in claim 8, wherein said heat-treatment step includes a drying step.

11. The self-propelled harvesting machine as defined in claim 10, wherein said drying step includes means for adding hot thermal transfer material to the crop material to be dried.

12. The self-propelled harvesting machine as defined in claim 11, wherein said means for adding hot thermal transfer material is configured for adding the thermal transfer material which is a reaction product of the thermal chemical reactor.

13. The self-propelled harvesting machine as defined in claim 11, further comprising a separation step for separating the added thermal transfer material from the dried crop material downstream of the drying step.

14. The self-propelled harvesting machine as defined in claim 13, wherein said separating step is located upstream of the reactor.

15. The self-propelled harvesting machine as defined in claim 8, further comprising means for supplying hydrogen gas into the reactor.

16. The self-propelled harvesting machine as defined in claim 15, further comprising an electrolysis step for obtaining hydrogen via electrolysis from the aqueous portion that was separated out in the dehydration device.

17. The self-propelled harvesting machine as defined in claim 8, further comprising a condensation step for condensing vaporous products of the reactor and removing an aqueous condensate;

and a filter through which the aqueous condensate flows, and to which coke from the reactor is added as a filter material.

18. The self-propelled harvesting machine as defined in claim 17, further comprising a burner for heating the reactor and supplied with gaseous reaction product from the reactor.

19. The self-propelled harvesting machine as defined in claim 1, further comprising a concentration step which captures the aqueous portion that was removed in at least one of the dehydration steps for separation into a portion that is enriched with dissolved substances, and into a portion from which the dissolved substances have been removed.

20. The self-propelled harvesting vehicle as defined in claim 19, further comprising a collection tank provided for the enriched portion.