| JP2001062323 | ROTARY CRUSHER |
| JP54149067 | CRUSHER OF BEANS ETC. |
| JP2007054723 | CRUSHER AND CRUSHER FOR WORK MACHINE |
NEGRI, Marco (Via Motella, 33 Marcaria, Frazione Campitello, I-46010, IT)
CLAIMS
1. A device for controlling automatically the insertion of plant material in a shredder (1), said shredder being provided with an internal-combustion engine (2) and comprising a feeder roller (3) which is moved by a hydraulic motor (4) which pushes the material to be shredded toward a cutting element, characterized in that it comprises a sensor which is adapted to send a signal which is proportional to the supply of the internal-combustion engine to a control unit (8) which is adapted to process the signal by comparison with a preset value and to consequently transmit a pulse to an electric valve (10) which is capable of sending selectively oil to the hydraulic motor (4) of the feeder roller (3), so as to actuate said roller, and directly to the discharge, so as to stop the roller.
2. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that the sensor is adapted to send a signal which is proportional to a position of a butterfly valve of a carburetor of the engine (2).
3. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that the sensor is adapted to send a signal which is proportional to the flow of fuel that passes through an injector of the engine (2).
4. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that the control unit (8) is provided with means which are adapted to produce selected variations of the preset comparison value. |
DEVICE FOR CONTROLLING AUTOMATICALLY THE INSERTION OF PLANT MATERIAL IN A SHREDDER Technical Field
The present invention relates to a device for controlling automatically the insertion of plant material in a shredder.
Background Art
It is known that machines that shred wooden plant materials derived from the trimming of plants and hedges and reduce them into chips have become very widespread. Such machines, which can be motorized in different manners by means of internal-combustion engines, electric motors, or by coupling to a tractor, differ in the cutting system, and therefore there are so-called bioshredders and chippers.
In all of these machines, the material to be shredded is introduced by means of a feeder roller, which is moved by a hydraulic motor which pushes the material toward the cutting element, providing a type of forced feeding which in case of an excessive load of material can jam the cutting system and consequently cause its seizure.
Different systems have therefore been proposed and are currently commercially available which allow to obviate the above drawback, but known systems entail a very high installation cost which is poorly compatible with the total value of the shredder designed to be provided with such systems.
Disclosure of the Invention The aim of the present invention is therefore to provide a device which has a reduced cost and can be installed conveniently and quickly.
The proposed aim is achieved by a device for controlling automatically the insertion of plant material in a shredder, according to the invention, said shredder being provided with an internal-combustion engine and comprising a feeder roller which is moved by a hydraulic motor which
pushes the material to be shredded toward a cutting element, characterized in that it comprises a sensor which is adapted to send a signal which is proportional to the supply of the internal-combustion engine to a control unit which is adapted to process the signal by comparison with a preset value and to consequently transmit a pulse to an electric valve which is capable of sending selectively oil to the hydraulic motor of the feeder roller, so as to actuate said roller, and directly to the discharge, so as to stop the roller. Brief description of the drawing Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become better apparent from the description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment thereof, illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the accompanying drawing, wherein the only figure is a schematic view of the device according to the invention. Ways to carrying out the Invention
With reference to the figure, the reference numeral 1 generally designates the shredder provided with an internal-combustion engine 2 which is supplied by means of a carburetor, the shredder comprising a feeder roller 3 driven by a hydraulic motor 4 which, arranged at the bottom of a loading hopper 5, is designed to push the material to be shredded, constituted as mentioned by primings, towards the cutting element arranged within a housing 6.
An important feature of the invention consists in that the device for controlling the insertion of the material to be shredded comprises a sensor which is not visible in the figure and is adapted to send, by means of a line 7, a signal which is proportional to the position of the butterfly valve of the carburetor to a control unit 8.
Such control unit processes the signal by comparison with a value which is preset by the user according to the requirements and consequently transmits a pulse by means of a line 9 to an electric valve 10, which is
capable of sending the oil selectively by means of a line 11 to the hydraulic motor 4 for driving the roller 3, so as to cause the actuation of such roller, and directly to the discharge by means of a line 12, so as to stop the roller. If the signal that arrives from the sensor reports, by comparison with the value preset within the control unit 8, an operating condition of the engine 2 under an abnormal stress, revealed by the position of a butterfly valve of a carburetor of the motor, a pulse leaves the control unit toward the electric valve 10 and induces the electric valve to send the oil directly to the discharge, excluding the motor 4 of the roller 3; the consequent halting of the roller 3 allows the cutting element of the machine to dispose of the material which, by having accumulated in an excessive amount, had caused the abnormal operating conditions, and return to normal conditions is detected by the sensor, which sends to the control unit 8 a signal which causes the sending, to the electric valve 10, of a pulse which is adapted to restore the supply of oil to the motor 4, consequently resuming the feeding of material to be shredded to the machine.
The described invention is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the appended claims: for example, the internal-combustion engine 2 can be supplied by means of an injector, and in this case a sensor is provided which is adapted to send a signal which is proportional to the flow of fuel that passes through said injector.
The disclosures in Italian Patent Application No. MN2006A000045 from which this application claims priority are incorporated herein by reference.
Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly, such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each
element identified by way of example by such reference signs.