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EP-4199696-B1 - DEFLECTOR FOR FAN HOUSING OF CLEANING SYSTEM OF COMBINE HARVESTER

EP4199696B1EP 4199696 B1EP4199696 B1EP 4199696B1EP-4199696-B1

Inventors

  • DUQUESNE, FRANK R.G.
  • RICKETTS, JONATHAN E.
  • Hillen, Curtis
  • Vanderstichele, Michiel
  • Moutton, Bart

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20210820

Claims (14)

  1. A fan assembly (300) for a cleaning system of a combine harvester (12) comprising: a housing (302) comprising a plurality of interconnected walls, the interconnected walls defining least one inlet opening (303) through which air is delivered into the housing, and at least one outlet opening (304, 306) through which air is exhausted from the housing, wherein the fan assembly further comprises a deflector (402, 502) positioned either at or adjacent the outlet opening (304, 306), the deflector (402, 502) being configured to affect a flow of air across a width dimension (W) of the outlet opening (304, 306), characterized in that the deflector (402, 502) is configured to be fixed at a plurality of rotated positions.
  2. The fan assembly of claim 1, wherein a fan (310) is mounted to the housing that is configured to distribute air from the inlet opening to the outlet opening.
  3. The fan assembly of claim 1 or 2, wherein the deflector (402, 502) extends across the width dimension (W) of the outlet opening.
  4. The fan assembly of any one of the preceding claims wherein the deflector (402, 502) comprises a plurality of panels (403, 503) that are connected together, wherein each panel is individually pivotable with respect to the other panels of the plurality of panels prior to being fixed in a stationary position.
  5. The fan assembly of claim 4, wherein adjacent panels of the plurality of panels (403, 503) are connected to a stationary bracket (404, 505), and the stationary bracket (404, 505) is mounted to a wall of the housing (302).
  6. The fan assembly of either claim 4 or claim 5, wherein each panel (403, 503) is pivotable about a common axis (D) that extends along the width dimension (W) of the fan assembly (300) prior to being fixed in a stationary position.
  7. The fan assembly of any one of claims 4-6, wherein the plurality of panels (403, 503) comprise at least three panels including a central panel (403b, 503c) positioned between two side panels (403a/c, 503a/e), and the center panel (403b, 503c) of the at least three panels is configured to direct air toward the side panels (403a/c, 503a/e) of the at least three panels (403, 503).
  8. The fan assembly of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the housing (302) comprises a second outlet opening (304) and a second deflector (502) that is positioned either at or adjacent the second outlet opening (304), the second deflector (502) being configured to affect a flow of air across a width dimension (W) of the second outlet opening (304).
  9. The fan assembly of claim 8, wherein the second deflector (502) comprises a plurality of panels (503) that are connected together, wherein each panel is individually pivotable with respect to the other panels of the plurality of panels prior to being fixed in a stationary position.
  10. The fan assembly of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the deflector (402, 502) comprises a unitary body that extends across the width dimension (W) of the outlet opening (304, 306).
  11. The fan assembly of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the housing includes at least two exterior side walls (302a, 302b) together defining the width dimension (W) of the outlet opening.
  12. The fan assembly of claim 11, wherein the deflector (402, 502) is pivotably connected to the at least two exterior side walls (302a, 302b).
  13. The fan assembly of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the deflector (402, 502) spans an entirety of the width dimension (W) of the outlet opening (304, 306).
  14. A combine harvester (12) comprising the fan assembly (300) of any one of the preceding claims.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a fan housing, and a deflector therefor, for the cleaning system of agricultural equipment, such as a combine harvester. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION As is described in U.S. Patent Nos. 8,221,064 and 10,561,069 to CNH America LLC, a cleaning system for a combine harvester includes a fan assembly that is configured to blow air through reciprocating sieves to carry lighter elements of material other than grain (MOG) or chaff away. Transverse or cross-flow fans of various designs have been advantageously employed with agricultural combines to provide the air that is blown upwardly and rearwardly through the sieves to carry the chaff away from the grain and tailings deposited onto the cleaning system sieves. Transverse fans are useful in combine cleaning systems because such fans can produce a wide stream of air that can be directed upwardly toward the cleaning sieves of the combine cleaning systems but require relatively little space. Such fans, in typical agricultural combines, are disposed such that their air outputs are below the sieves of the cleaning system. One problem with long and wide transverse fans is that the air blowing through the fan housing will receive air through its inlet in a uniform manner, however, as the air stream enters the fan housing, the air stream converges towards the center of the housing and creates a significantly stronger airstream in the center of the housing as compared with the sides of the housing. In other words, the air can be unevenly distributed along the width dimension 'W' of the fan (see FIG. 3A) as it travels from the inlet to the outlet of the fan. Moreover, in a situation where the crop mat becomes uneven across the width of the sieves, the air within the fan housing will typically follow the path of least resistance, namely, toward the unobstructed portion of the sieves. This may be referred to in the art as a blowout condition. It would be desirable to provide uniform distribution of air across the entire width of the fan assembly in order to improve cleaning efficiency, crop processing, and either limit or prevent a blowout condition. It would also be desirable to tailor the distribution of air between multiple outlets in the fan housing. US2020137959 (A1) describes a combine grain cleaning system having front and rear rollers, a conveyor belt having an upper surface extending from the front roller to the rear roller, a motor operatively connected to the conveyor belt and configured to drive the upper surface in a belt travel direction from the front roller to the rear roller, and a baffle located adjacent the rear roller. US2018007830 (A1) discloses a cleaning fan assembly comprising an elongate "squirrel cage" fan carried by a cleaning fan housing, and an air guide vane located rewardly thereof having a pair of spaced apart, angled guide vanes, on its top surface and a pair of angled, spaced apart guide vanes. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to one aspect of the invention, a fan assembly for a cleaning system of a combine harvester comprises: a housing comprising a plurality of interconnected walls, the interconnected walls defining least one inlet opening through which air is delivered into the housing, and at least one outlet opening through which air is exhausted from the housing; anda deflector positioned either at or adjacent the outlet opening, the deflector being configured to affect a flow of air across a width dimension W of the outlet opening. According to one aspect of the invention, a fan assembly for a cleaning system of a combine harvester comprises: a housing comprising a plurality of interconnected walls, the interconnected walls defining least one inlet opening through which air is delivered into the housing, and first and second outlet openings through which air is exhausted from the housing;a first deflector positioned either at or adjacent the first outlet opening, the deflector being configured to affect a flow of air across a width dimension W of the first outlet opening; anda second deflector positioned either at or adjacent the second outlet opening, the second deflector being configured to affect a flow of air across a width dimension W of the second outlet opening. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above-mentioned and other features and advantages of this invention, and the manner of attaining them, will become more apparent and the invention will be better understood by reference to the following description of an embodiment of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: FIG. 1 a left side view of a conventional combine harvester, in which a transverse fan assembly is installed in conjunction with a cleaning system.FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view of a portion of the combine harvester of FIG. 1.FIG. 3A depicts a rear isometric view of a fan assembly, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.FIG. 3B depict