Description

Technical Field

The present invention finds its application in the field of agricultural machine and relates with an agricultural vehicle for drying lawn clippings, in particular hay grass for the formation of circular or squared bales and adapted to carry out the whole cycle of hay processing, from cutting to shaping the bales.

State of the art

As known, forming of hay balloon, particularly of the type to be used as livestock feed, is very complex as it requires the execution of different steps according to precise time and operations. To ensure the quality of the product and avoid mildew formation, it is essential that grass moisture content is significantly reduced before forming the bales, bringing it to a value of less than 15% by weight.

Generally, the first step is cutting the fresh grass by appropriate mowers that operate by means of a head having a cutting unit with comb- or disc- shaped blades.

Some machines, known as mower conditioners, may also perform a preliminary step of reducing moisture content by means of rollers that compress the grass immediately after cutting. The so cut grass is made to dry naturally on the field until it reaches the minimum moisture content.

To facilitate homogeneous drying and avoid mildew formation, it is necessary to turn the grass several times to bring up the lower layers to the surface.

This operation is usually carried out manually with the aid of tools of common use such as racks and the like or by means of special machines equipped with motorized rotary racks.

When the grass has reached the optimum humidity content, it is harvested by means of appropriate machines for the formation of a round bales, called rotobales, or of a rectangular shape obtained by pressing machines.

It is therefore evident that traditional operating methods are extremely long and complex and require substantial use of means and personnel, resulting in an increase in the cost of the final product.

Moreover, the high amount of time spent between grass cutting and bales forming strongly limits productivity, as well as being a risk factor due to the long staying of grass on the field, resulting in exposure to atmospheric agents, dusts and pollution, which may prolong the drying time and affect the quality of the final product. In fact, the presence of the cut grass in the field prevents further grass from growing again to allow more cutting.

Still, further drawbacks are related to the mixing time of the grass during drying.

As matter of fact, the remixing first causes the leaves to be detached, that is, the part most rich in protein, with losses that may be 60% of the initial product content.

Consequently, the forage obtained in this way is poor in nutrients and with excessive fiber content, with the result that milk products produced by animals fed with this forage are also poor in proteins.

In addition, mixing causes ground and dust lifting and blending with the grass so that they can also be found in the bales and therefore in the forage, with the consequent increase in the ashes content of the finished product and in the products derived from the breeding of livestock. Last but not least, it is necessary to go through the clippings repeatedly, even up to six times, resulting in damage to the product.

Yet another limitation of traditional tools is the release of metal chips during cutting operations that mix with hay and consequently can enter in the stomach of the cattle, causing inflammation and internal lacerations.

To remedy this disadvantage, a magnet is inserted into the stomach of the animal so as to retain the metal residues and contain the damage.

However, the magnet stays permanently in the stomach and it becomes also a problem.

To overcome this drawback, a solution has been proposed for the use of a rotating magnetic chamber that filters the feed at the exit from the mixer wagons before passing into the feeders. However, this solution requires an additional investment for the need to implement mixer wagons with this additional system.

Scope of the invention

The object of the present invention is to overcome the above cited disadvantages by providing a unit for drying and collecting lawn clippings as well as an agricultural vehicle for drying and collecting lawn clippings, characterized by high efficiency and reliability.

A particular object is to provide a unit for drying and collecting lawn clippings allowing quick drying of hay grass, even immediately after mowing, so as to avoid the grass being kept on the field, resulting in longer drying times and risk of fungal, mildew and other pathologies.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a unit for drying and collecting lawn clippings that do not require continuous mixing of grass layers to facilitate ventilation and avoid mildew formation, allowing to have an end product richer in leaves and therefore with more protein content and free from earthworms and ashes. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a unit for drying and collecting lawn clippings, which avoids the continuous passage on the cut grass, so as to further preserve the quality of the product.

A particular object is to provide an agricultural vehicle for drying and collecting lawn clippings allowing quick drying of the hay grass even immediately after the mowing, so as to avoid the presence of grass on the field, resulting in longer drying times and risk of fungal, mucous and other pathologies.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an agricultural vehicle for drying and collecting lawn clippings that does not require continuous mixing of grass layers to facilitate aeration and avoid mildew formation, enabling have an end product richer in leaves and therefore with more protein content and free from earthworms and ashes.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an agricultural vehicle for drying and collecting lawn clippings avoiding the continuous passage on the cut grass, so as to further preserve the quality of the product.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an agricultural vehicle for drying and collecting lawn clippings that allows the entire cycle from mowing to bales shaping to be made quickly and without high use of personnel and means, immediately removing grass from the field and allowing immediate re-growth.

This will help to achieve faster cycles of grass regeneration and thus a greater number of mowing, with increased productivity and reduced final product cost.

Yet another object is to provide an agricultural vehicle for drying and collecting lawn clippings that removes metal debris from hay.

Such objects, as well as others that will become clearer hereinafter, are achieved by a unit according to claim 1 as well as by an agricultural vehicle according to claim 9.

Thanks to this combination of features, the unit and the agricultural vehicle will be able to dry the lawn clippings immediately after cutting and without it being necessary to leave it in the field to wait for its natural drying, significantly reducing the time needed to the entire bales forming cycle and immediately leaving the field free to allow for rapid regrowth of the grass in order to obtain more crops.

The agricultural vehicle will prevent external substances, such as powders, soil, polluting particles, from accumulating on the grass, avoiding the spread of the leaves so as to have a cleaner product with greater protein content.

The agricultural vehicle thus designed will allow to carry out the entire bales shaping cycle, starting from the fresh grass mowing, without having to use other personnel beyond the operator of the vehicle and without the need for additional agricultural vehicles such as mowers or round balers.

Advantageously, the agricultural vehicle may comprise an internal combustion engine for its road moving having a drainage duct for exhaust smoke placed in fluidic communication with said heating pipe to convey the heat of the smoke to said drying duct.

In this way, it is possible to use the same heat of the exhaust smokes of the engine for drying, avoiding having to use further heating means and discharging cooled smokes in the atmosphere. The agricultural vehicle will allow considerable energy savings and will have relatively low ecological impact.

Advantageous embodiments of the invention are obtained according to the dependent claims.

Brief disclosure of the drawings

Further features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent in the light of the detailed description of preferred but not limiting embodiments of the unit and of the agricultural vehicle according to the present invention illustrated by way of non-limiting example with the aid of the attached drawing table wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of an agricultural vehicle of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a rear front view of the vehicle;

FIG. 3 is a side cross-sectioned view of the agricultural vehicle provided with the drying unit, wherein further details are visible;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged and sectioned view of a detail of the drying unit in a first preferred embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a front view of the detail of Fig. 4;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged and sectioned view of a detail of the drying unit in a second preferred embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a front view of the detail of Fig. 6;

FIG. 8 is a sectioned view of a detail of the mowing means.

Best modes of carrying out the invention

With reference to the accompanying drawings, some preferred but not exclusive embodiments of an agricultural vehicle for drying and collecting lawn clippings, in particular haybee for shaping fodder bales are shown.

As shown in Fig. 1, the agricultural vehicle, generally indicated by 1, may be designed to carry out the entire bales shaping cycle, starting from mowing the grass to bale formation.

The agricultural vehicle 1 will be of a self-propelled type with at least one pair of axles 2 provided with wheels 3 and connected to motor means, in particular an internal combustion engine, not shown as known in the art, which can be sized according to the maximum loads to be moved and the performances to be obtained, according to known and non-inherent aspects of the present invention.

The agricultural vehicle 1 will be provided with means 4 for mowing the fresh grass adapted to cut the grass directly on the field while the vehicle 1 is moving.

The mowing means 4 may be designed according to known art and for example they may comprise a cutting unit 5 with comb- or disc-shaped blades.

Moreover, as can be seen from Fig. 2, the mowing means 4 may be similar to those on the common mower conditioners, i.e. provided with crushing rollers 6 located downstream of the cutting unit 5 to perform a first crushing of the lawn clippings and to perform a first step of moisture content reduction.

According to a variant shown in Fig. 8, the crushing rollers 6 will have a lateral surface at least partially covered by a sponge layer 36 to absorb the drained water from the mowed grass and immediately obtain a first coarse moisture reduction.

Preferably, the entire lateral surface of the crushing rollers 6 will be wrapped by a tubular layer made of sponge 36.

Outside the sponge layers 36, two further drain rolls 37 will be arranged which will act on the sponge layers 36 to expel the water therefrom.

Preferably, the crushing rollers 6, whether or not they are made of sponge 36, may have rotation axes X parallel to each other and slightly inclined with respect to the horizontal, for example with an angle comprised between 5° and 30°, allowing water to flow to the ground.

Downstream of the mowing means 4 there are provided loading means 7 of the lawn clippings provided with a motorized transport surface 8, for example, strip, roller or the like, adapted to pick the grass off the ground and sending it to a drying unit 9 having a drying conduit 10. The transport surface 8 will be suitably sized to have a maximum transverse encumbrance not exceeding the space between the wheels 3 of the vehicle.

In addition, the transport surface 8 will be inclined to elevate the grass from the ground to a maximum lifting height at which the inlet mouth 11 of the drying conduit 10 is provided, as more clearly visible from Fig 3.

The lifting loading means 7 may optionally be equipped with preheating means, not shown, which provide a first amount of heat to the grass for a preliminary drying.

The preheating means may comprise a radiating panel which may be directly connected to the engine radiator of the agricultural vehicle 1 to extract therefrom the heat generated during use. The drying conduit 10 will also be provided with an outlet mouth 12 for the dried grass placed at the minimum height of the drying conduit 10 and facing a forming station 13 of the hay bales B.

The bales B forming station 13 may be designed according to any known art and may comprise a round baler adapted to form circular bales or a hay press for square bales.

Alternatively, the forming station 13 may comprise an openable lid 14 to allow bales B to be discharged directly to the field or other storage area.

The drying unit 9 further comprises means 15 for controlled forwarding the grass from the inlet mouth 11 to the outlet mouth 12 and heating means 16 for sending a heating stream in the drying conduit 10 to bring the moisture content of the dried grass at a maximum optimal value that would normally be less than 15% by weight.

In order to obtain a sufficiently long path and to reduce the total encumbrance of the drying unit 9, the drying conduit 10 will be coil-shaped, so as to define a first section 17 for the forced drying of the grass, a sliding intermediate section 18 and an end unloading section 19 necessary to cool the dried grass to bring it to the forming station 13 at a temperature sufficiently close to the environment temperature to avoid ignition hazards during forming step of the bales B.

The first section 17 of the conduit 10 may be slightly inclined upwards or downwards, depending on the space requirements.

Fig. 4 shows a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the drying conduit 10 and of the heating means 16.

In this configuration, the first section 17 of the conduit 10 will have an outer tubular wall 20 and an inner tubular wall 21 reciprocally coaxial and defining an annular drying chamber 22 for lawn clippings.

The inner tubular wall 21 will have a plurality of holes 23 uniformly distributed along its longitudinal development and will be connected to the heating means 16 provided with a hot air generator and blowing means for introducing hot air into the inner tubular wall 21 which will define a heating pipe 24.

The heating pipe 24 will be connected to the blower means of the heating means 16 by means of suitable end joints 25.

For example, the heating means may comprise a fan adapted to extract air from the outside and heat it by means of a resistance or similar means to bring it to a temperature between 40°C and 70°C and preferably between 50°C and 60°C.

The outer tubular wall 20 will also be provided with a plurality of passages 26 uniformly distributed along its longitudinal development for the discharge of the air injected by the heating pipe 24 through the holes 23. The forwarding means 15 housed in the first section 17 of the drying conduit 10 will preferably comprise a rotary screw feeder 27 having a rotation axis X coaxial to the drying conduit 10 so as to obtain a turning of the grass at the same time as the forwarding in the conduit 10.

According to an alternative embodiment, not shown, the forwarding means 15 may be ribbon, roller or similar type with a grass moving plane housed in the drying conduit 10. In this case, the heating means 16 may blow hot air directly in the conduit 10.

Inside the intermediate section 18 and the end section 19, further forwarding means may be provided, either of screw feeder type or of moving plane type.

Furtherly, the intermediate section 18 may be associated with additional heating means, for example a fan 28 for producing and delivering a hot air flow at a temperature between 50°C and 60°C, in order to further reduce the content of moisture, if necessary.

The forwarding means 15 may be connected to control means, not shown, adapted to regulate the speed as a function of the air temperature and/or the outside temperature and/or the moisture content of the grass.

The control means may also be provided with moisture probes arranged in one or more points of the drying conduct 10 to verify the effectiveness of the heating means 16 and possibly slow down the forwarding of the grass or adjust the temperature of the heating stream.

Fig. 6 shows a second preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the drying unit 9 which differs from the above one firstly because the heating means 16 comprise a heating pipe 24 housed inside the inner tubular wall 21 of the drying conduit 10.

The heating pipe 24 will have an inlet 29 for the hot fluid, generally air, suitable to be fluidly connected to the heating means 16 to radiate heat through its outer surface inside the inner tubular wall 21 and thus transfer the heat to the grass through holes 23.

Preferably, the heating means 16 will comprise an internal combustion engine having a smoke discharge in fluidic connection with the heating pipe 24 and possibly associated with a fan or other means for forcing the air flow to promote the flow of smokes inside of the heating pipe 24.

The latter will be U-shaped with an inlet section 30 connected to the smoke discharge and an outlet section 31 having a discharge opening 32 of the exhaust smokes placed outside the drying conduit 10.

Even more preferably, the internal combustion engine will be the same motor used to move the agricultural vehicle 1.

The inner tubular wall 21 of the drying conduct 10 may have a plurality of fins adapted to increase heat exchange surface. According to a further variant, the heating means 16 may operate with a fluid other than air, for example hot water, forced to flow through a heating pipe 24 crossing the drying conduit 10. Preferably, it will be necessary to avoid bringing the heating pipe 24 in direct contact with the grass to be dried by sliding the pipe 24 also in this also inside the inner tubular wall 21 of the drying conduit 10.

Regardless of the configuration of the heating means 16, the end unloading section 19 of the drying conduit 10 will be associated with cooling means adapted to send a relatively cold flow, for example air or water at a temperature near or below the environment temperature, to bring the dried grass at the exit at a temperature close to that of the environment.

For example, the cooling means may comprise a fan 33 for blowing cold air or at a temperature lower than that of the grass coming from the first section 17 of the conduit 10.

The cooling temperature will depend on both the drying temperature and the outside temperature and may preferably be comprised between 25°C and 35°C.

Inside the drying conduit 10, and preferably at the end of the unloading section 19, one or more magnets can be distributed, whose aim is to attract any metallic debris present in the hay and prevent them from ending in the final product, either it is bulk or a bale.

The agricultural vehicle 1 may be implemented with additional devices useful for its proper operation.

For example, one or more solar panels 34 arranged on the roof of the vehicle and/or the control cabin 35 may be provided for the electrical power of the various devices present on the vehicle 1.

Although the drying unit 9 has been described as being incorporated into the agricultural vehicle 1, it may also be independent and can be associated with the mowing means 4, the loading means 7 and a forming station 13 of the bales B.

In addition, the drying unit 9 may be provided with its own heating means or may be connected to external heating means such as a combustion engine or other means of the kind described above.

From above it is evident that the drying unit and the agricultural vehicle according to the invention reach the intended objects.

The drying unit and the agricultural vehicle are susceptible of numerous modifications and variants, all of which fall within the inventive concept expressed in the appended claims. All details may be replaced by other technically equivalent elements, and the materials may be different according to the needs without departing from the scope of the present invention.