WO2022008780A1 - Machine for the formation of bales of fodder and bale obtained thereby - Google Patents

Abstract

The machine enables the obtaining of easily transportable bales of fodder, with no need for straps or cord of any kind. To this end, the machine incorporates a shell with an inlet orifice (2) for the fodder, assisted by a feeder (3) and a horizontal roller (4), a horizontal platform (1) being established on the lower base thereof, upon which a mobile vertical partition (5) is disposed, for horizontal compaction. Laterally, it includes two casings (8) wherein a horizontal partition (10) is displaceable in an upward and downward direction, by way of a vertical compaction element. In correspondence with the rearward area of each side-member an outlet is established for the egress of the compacted bales, by means of corresponding pushers (11). The fodder bales are of a prismatic-rectangular configuration, with flattened fibres parallel to each other, overlapping to varied extents, folded in a zig-zag shape and entwined together.

Description

Machine for the formation of forage blocks and obtained block

TECHNICAL SECTOR

The present invention relates to a forage compacting machine, designed to compact forage, both dry and fresh for ensiling, usable in animal feed, forming easily transportable blocks, with an adjustable volume as needed and high density, which also facilitates its use. handling.

The object of the invention is to provide a machine capable of forming a forage block from vegetable fibers, whose blocks are duly compacted and can be handled without the need for straps or ties of any kind, being capable of acting on blocks previously formed (pacones).

It is also an object of the invention to achieve tremendously stable forage blocks in stacking and handling.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As is known, the vegetable fodder that is used for animal feed, once dry, is usually stored in warehouses or protected places, so that this fodder occupies a large volume, which requires a lot of space for its storage and subsequent use in animal feeding, all this regardless of the fact that by occupying a large volume, transport is affected since there are numerous trips that must be made from the place of forage collection to the place of storage or storage of the same. Similarly, handling involves a significant loss of time.

However, machines are known that can compact fodder and other plant products used in animal feed, although these machines are usually complex, needing a towing tractor vehicle or even being equipped with means for autonomous movement and operation, and in In any case, the blocks that can be formed with known machines require some ties or straps to prevent the block from collapsing when handling is carried out, as is the case of loading, unloading, transport, storage, etc., that is to say that compaction leaves much to be desired.

EXPLANATION OF THE INVENTION

The machine for the formation of fodder blocks that is recommended solves in a fully satisfactory way the aforementioned problems, based on a simple but effective solution.

To do this, and more specifically, it is made up of a frame with a horizontal bed to which the forage to be packed is raised by means of a conventional collector/feeder.

Above said feeder, a roller is established that limits the height of the forage layer that enters said bed, in order to obtain a uniform filling, also facilitating the dragging of the forage into said bed.

Vertically and longitudinally to said bed, a mobile partition is established with the ability to move both to the left and to the right to carry out a first compaction phase of the forage layer formed on the bed.

Laterally to the aforementioned bed, a pair of longitudinal drawers are established, located one on each side, which have a mobile horizontal partition inside, which will move vertically up and down, vertically pressing the forage against the upper part. chest of drawers when reaching up and against the bottom when moving down.

Both in one and in another of these positions the forage mass, which will have already undergone a first horizontal compaction due to the displacement of the separator and the subsequent vertical compaction, due to the rise of the horizontal partition of the drawer, will receive a new horizontal compaction through of a piston responsible in said position for the horizontal thrust associated with each of the four eaves. Thus, the forage provided by the feeder accumulates in the bed and advances towards the bottom due to the push of the material provided by the feeder itself, until it makes contact with the bottom wall, where a graduated pressure sensor is placed to act at the right time before a certain pressure, triggering the hydraulics that pushes the separator or vertical partition horizontally, moving it from that end of the bed to the other, to sweep the forage that has been deposited in the meantime by the feeder and ends up falling in the drawer on that side and the separator being arranged at the end of this route as a closing partition on that side.

Next, the horizontal partition of this lateral drawer moves, rising and compacting the fodder against its upper part of the drawer on which the fodder will have been deposited.

When carrying out this vertical displacement of the horizontal partition of the drawer unit on one side, it leaves the drawer open which will receive the new forage load when the separator moves towards this side again. The separating partition will have moved to the other side before emptying the bed, which will immediately be filled with fodder again, until the mechanism is triggered again by pressure on the bottom partition sensor, triggering the movement of the separator again, this time to return again to the starting side, to fill the chest of drawers again, where it will be compacted against its base when the horizontal partition is lowered, and later, by means of the corresponding piston, it will suffer the corresponding thrust parallel to the bed equivalent to what occurred before, the forage undergoing a last push, parallel to the bed and directed towards the outlet, causing its last compression to form the forage block.

This last compression can be forced by making the section of the drawer decrease towards the outlet, a decreasing section system that is already being used in normal packers, although it can also have a closing partition that supports the pressure to finally open once. that the block has been compacted so that it can be pushed to the outside by the plunger or piston.

If the drawers have a smaller section towards the exit, there will be a resistance to the displacement and exit of the forage block, resistance that is being overcome by the thrust of the new material that is arriving, enough thrust so that it comes out already compacted.

According to an embodiment variant, there could optionally be a cover at the end or exit of the chest of drawers, with automated opening so that it is closed while the block is compacted and then opens to let the block out, closing again to receive the new one. contribution of forage, a process that would somewhat slow down the formation of blocks but that would produce better formed and stable blocks.

The four horizontal thrust pistons are arranged above and below in correspondence with the upper and lower eaves on each side, parallel to the bed, located 2 on each side, they are synchronized with an alternating movement that matches that of the piston that moves in the direction horizontal and perpendicular to the previous ones the movable intermediate partition.

Finally, this alternation of the thrusts is also coordinated with the vertical movement up and down of the horizontal partitions of the side drawer units.

In this way there is a continuous alternation of the thrusts of the pistons to compact forage blocks in the right/left and upper/lower positions, taking advantage of all the movements of the pistons: both the one that moves the movable partition from right to left , such as the two that raise and lower the horizontal partitions of the left and right chest of drawers, as well as the four that push longitudinally parallel to the bed. In this way, the movement of all the pistons is optimised/maximised.

The drawers can vary their width, for example, by means of screws that are positioned outwards or inwards, moving their upper and outer walls in one direction or another to adjust with the size of the horizontal partition that we are using.

The machine may be located in a place so that the forage is provided or it may be moved by means of a tractor vehicle to collect the product directly in the field, then having wheels. As an alternative use, instead of the forage provided by the feeder, the compacting machine is fed with large-sized bales, called bales, already formed, which are placed vertically on the bed, in which case the movement of the vertical partition does not produce a compaction but rather a displacement of the pacón towards the chest of drawers, where it will suffer the other two thrusts, causing a compaction that must be adjusted to the size and final shape that is desired, being able to reduce its size even by 50%, being equally capable of acting on the whole of the pacón or on previously disintegrated portions of it.

As for the forage blocks obtained with this system and which can be of great volume, the fibers form an ordered mass with the fibers mostly arranged parallel to the long axis of the rectangular prism that constitutes the block, a position that they adopt by themselves when move when they are pushed on the horizontal bed, provided that it offers enough surface so that the length of the path gives them time to adopt said position parallel to the longitudinal axis of the block, while the fibers present a broken ziz-zag shape , which causes its cohesion with the adjoining fibers giving the final stability to the block, a stability that is also contributed by the different degree of overlapping of the fibers with each other.

If we want to obtain blocks with pre-established fractionation lines, the procedure would consist of giving the corresponding forage contributions by moving the vertical partition, as many as fractionation lines we want in the block, before proceeding with vertical compaction through the horizontal partition. of that side drawer.

The dimensions of the blocks obtained will be defined by the length of the bed (and therefore of the lateral drawers), the compaction path of the lateral parallel pistons (upper and lower), as well as the width of the lateral horizontal partitions. that have been mounted.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To complement the description that will be made below and in order to help a better understanding of the characteristics of the invention, according to a Preferred example of practical realization of the same, is accompanied as an integral part of said description, a set of plans where with illustrative and non-limiting character, the following has been represented:

Figure 1.- Shows a schematic perspective view of a machine for the formation of fodder blocks made according to the object of the present invention, in which one of the four pusher elements has been represented.

Figure 2.- Shows a schematic sectional view of the machine with the vertical partition occupying a central position in its movement to the right.

Figure 3.- Shows a view similar to that of figure 2, in a rear working position to that of figure 2, with the vertical partition located on one side.

Figure 4 Shows a view similar to that of figure 3, in a working position subsequent to that of figure 3, once the lateral chest of drawers has been raised.

Figure 5.- Shows a schematic perspective view of the forage block obtained by means of the machine of the previous figures.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

In view of the figures outlined, it can be seen how the machine of the invention is constituted from a casing in which a horizontal bed (1) is defined, in which an inlet mouth (2) assisted by a conventional collector/feeder (3), incorporating a horizontal roller (4), delimiting the height of the forage layer that enters the aforementioned bed and that, as previously mentioned, facilitates the dragging of the forage towards the interior of the bed. said bed (1).

The forage provided by the feeder (3) accumulates in the bed (1) and advances towards the bottom due to the thrust of the feeder itself and the roller (4), until it makes contact with the bottom wall, where a sensor is located. of pressure, through which the different hydraulic mechanisms of the machine will be synchronized. For this, on said bed (1) a mobile partition (5) is established longitudinally and adopting a vertical disposition, assisted by a hydraulic system, not represented in the figures, so that, as can be seen in figures 2 and 3, said partition is movable both to the right and to the left in order to carry out a first compaction phase of the forage layer (6) formed on the bed (1).

The bed (1) ends laterally in two lateral drawers (8) inside which there is a horizontal partition (10) with a length according to the width of the bale to be achieved, a horizontal partition (10) that can be moved upwards and descending inside the drawer (8).

In this way, the forage that is displaced by the mobile partition (5) is compacted horizontally against the outer wall (9) of the box (8), where it is again compacted vertically by the displacement of the horizontal partition (10), both in its ascent and descent maneuver.

The shape of the box (8) brings with it the generation of a block with a prismatic configuration, which is expelled axially through some pushers (11), one for each eave, with the fodder undergoing a last push, parallel to the bed and directed towards the four rear outlets, causing its last compression this time in an axial direction to form the forage block.

This last compression can be forced making the section of the outlet decrease, although said outlet could also be assisted by a closing partition that supports the pressure until it finally opens once the block has been compacted to be pushed to the outside by the travel of the corresponding pusher (11).

As for the horizontal, vertical and axial movements described above, these will be synchronized so that the release movements of the element that is currently compacting in one direction can be used to compact in the opposite direction in the opposite area of operation, by Four areas for obtaining blocks can be defined in correspondence with the upper and lower areas of the drawer box (8). According to another characteristic of the invention, the drawers (8) could be adjustable in terms of their width by means of spindles (12), which would move the covers (7'), bases (7) and side walls (9) to adjust the width. of the blocks to obtain. A similar situation would occur with the travel of the pushers (11), whose travel regulation will determine the length of the blocks to be obtained.

From this structuring, it has been possible to verify how in the displacement and pressing processes the stems of the forage fibers, initially cylindrical, are finally crushed, compressing said flattened fibers one on top of the other, with the corresponding expulsion of the air existing between them. , finally presenting mostly a predominantly longitudinal disposition, and since the fibers have different lengths, always less than the length of the block, they offer different degrees of overlap between them, at the same time that they adopt a folded "zig zag" conformation, which that causes a cohesion with the neighboring fibers by intertwining with each other, giving the final stability to the obtained rectangular prismatic block, which does not present a structure in parallel layers but rather the fibers are in a predominantly parallel and intertwined arrangement, which results in a greater elasticity of the block in its handling without tendency to disintegrate wear in layers If the horizontal compaction procedure has been carried out in several strokes before the vertical compaction, the finally formed block will also have a structure in sub-blocks separated by fracture lines that facilitate their separation.

Claims

1.- Machine for the formation of forage blocks, characterized in that it is constituted from a casing within which an entrance mouth (2) for the forage is established, assisted by a feeder (3) and a roller (4 ) horizontal delimiter of the height of the layer of material entering the casing, casing on whose lower bottom a horizontal bed (1) is defined, on which a mobile partition (5) is established in a longitudinal direction and adopting a vertical arrangement, assisted by a hydraulic system, as a horizontal pressing element, having foreseen that the bed (1) ends laterally in two drawers (8), with the particularity that inside each drawer (8) it is movable in an ascending and descending direction. horizontal internal partition (10), with a length according to the width of the drawer (8), as a vertical pressing element, so that in correspondence with the upper and lower rear area of each drawer (8) an exit is established for the blocks ues compacted, by means of respective pushers (11) facing them. 2.- Machine for the formation of forage blocks, according to claim 1, characterized in that in correspondence with the bottom wall of the device casing a pressure sensor is established associated with a mechanism for synchronizing the compaction movements provided in machine. 3.- Machine for the formation of fodder blocks, according to claim 1, characterized in that the bases (7) and covers (7') include positional regulation means to adjust the width of the blocks to be obtained. 4 Machine for the formation of forage blocks, according to claim 1, characterized in that the outlet mouths of the blocks of the machine have a decreasing section. 5.- Machine for the formation of forage blocks, according to claim 1, characterized in that the outlet mouths of the blocks of the machine are assisted by closing partitions on which the block is axially compacted, partitions provided with opening means controlled. 6. Block of fodder obtained by the machine presented in claim 1, characterized in that it consists of a block with a prismatic-rectangular configuration, in which the fibers, which have lengths that are different from each other, always less than that of the block, are flattened and compressed with each other, adopting a predominantly longitudinal disposition, with the fibers being parallel to each other, overlapping to different degrees and folded in a zig-zag, intertwining with each other. 7. Forage block, according to claim 6, characterized by having fragmentation lines capable of dividing the block into different sub-blocks defined by the user.