Tailings monitor for combine harvester
First Claim
1. In a combine harvester vehicle having crop cutting means and threshing and separating stages operative to separate the grain from the other crop material and a cleaning stage operative to substantially remove chaff and the like from the grain received from the threshing and separating stages and including a tailings portion operative to separate incompletely threshed and separated tailings from the grain, said harvester vehicle also having a tailings return elevator for conveying said tailings from said tailings portion to one of said stages for recycling, the improvement comprising means for transmitting a radiant energy beam internally of said elevator transversely across the path of said tailings being conveyed in said elevator, and means for providing a visual indication proportional to the percentage of time that said beam is interrupted by said tailings being conveyed in said elevator, said last mentioned means including a detector in the path of said beam.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A combine harvester vehicle having threshing, separating and cleaning stages for cut crop material and a tailings return elevator for conveying tailings to one of the stages for recycling, is provided with a tailings monitor including a photodiode for transmitting a radiant energy beam across the path of tailings being conveyed in the elevator, an electrical circuit including a photodetector for deriving digital signals indicative of whether the beam is impinging on the photodetector or is being interrupted by the tailings, and an RC circuit which charges a capacitor through a resistance when the digital signal is present indicating that the beam is interrupted and discharges it when the opposite digital signal is present to thereby develop an average voltage across the capacitor which is an analog of the percentage of time that the beam is interrupted by the tailings being conveyed in the elevator and can be visually displayed on a voltmeter to the combine operator as a measure of tailings volume. In an alternative embodiment the digital signals are coupled to a microprocessor for processing of the signals and display to the operator.
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Citations
9 Claims
- 1. In a combine harvester vehicle having crop cutting means and threshing and separating stages operative to separate the grain from the other crop material and a cleaning stage operative to substantially remove chaff and the like from the grain received from the threshing and separating stages and including a tailings portion operative to separate incompletely threshed and separated tailings from the grain, said harvester vehicle also having a tailings return elevator for conveying said tailings from said tailings portion to one of said stages for recycling, the improvement comprising means for transmitting a radiant energy beam internally of said elevator transversely across the path of said tailings being conveyed in said elevator, and means for providing a visual indication proportional to the percentage of time that said beam is interrupted by said tailings being conveyed in said elevator, said last mentioned means including a detector in the path of said beam.
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8. In a combine harvester vehicle having crop cutting means and threshing and separating stages operative to separate the grain from the other crop material and a cleaning stage operative to remove chaff and the like from the grain received from the threshing and separating stages, said cleaning stage having a tailings portion operative to separate incompletely threshed and separated tailings from the grain, said harvester vehicle also having a hollow tailings return elevator for conveying said tailings from said tailings portion to one of said stages for recycling, the improvement comprising means for transmitting a radiant energy beam internally of said elevator transversely across the path of said tailings being conveyed in said elevator, detector means for deriving digital signals indicative of whether said beam is impinging on said diode or is being interrupted by said tailings being conveyed in said elevator, said detector means including a photoelectric diode in the path of said beam, an RC circuit including a resistance in series with a capacitor for charging said capacitor through said resistance when said digital signal is present indicating that said beam is interrupted and for discharging said capacitor through said resistance when the opposite digital signal is present to thereby develop a voltage across said capacitor whose average value is an analog of the percentage of time that said beam is interrupted by said tailings, and means for providing a visual indication which is a function of said voltage developed across said capacitor as a measure of the volume of tailings, said last-named means including a voltmeter.
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9. In a combine harvester vehicle having crop cutting means and threshing and separating stages operative to separate the grain from the other crop material and a cleaning stage operative to remove chaff and the like from the grain received from the threshing and separating stages and including a tailings portion operative to separate incompletely threshed and separated tailings from the grain, said harvester vehicle also having a hollow tailings return elevator for conveying said tailings from said tailings portion to one of said stages for recycling of said tailings, the improvement comprising means for transmitting a radiant energy beam internally of said elevator transversely across the path of said tailings being conveyed in said elevator, detector means for deriving digital signals indicative of whether said beam is impinging on said diode or is being interrupted by tailings being conveyed in said elevator, said detector means including a photoelectric diode in the path of said beam, and means for providing a visual indication of the percentage of time that said beam is interrupted by said tailings, said last-named means including a microprocessor receiving said digital signals as an input.
Specification