| 摘要 |
A tree harvester, suitable for harvesting small trees in row(s) as a source of biomass, has a harvesting head with a chipper drum and complementary anvil. A pick-up front has at least one spiral and guide member, such as a guide rail or counter-rotating spiral, to maintain a tree in a substantially vertical position when, and after, its stem is cut by a base cutter. The pick-up front has a support plate or conveyor, which co-operates with the at least one spiral or guide member pair, to convey the tree to a location about the chipper drum, for engagement by at least one pair of nip rollers above the chipper drum, while maintaining the tree in the substantially vertical position. The, or each, pair of nip rollers feeds the tree downwardly (and rearwardly) to the chipper drum, while still maintaining the tree in the substantially vertical position, for conversion to biomass, such as woodchips.;The harvester may have two-or-more of the harvester heads arranged side-by-side to enable trees in adjacent rows to be harvested. |
| 主权项 |
1. A harvesting head for a tree harvester, the harvester head including:
a chipper drum rotatable about a first axis; first and second nip rollers rotatable about respective substantially parallel second and third axes, the second and third axes being vertically spaced above the first axis; and at least one drive that rotatably drives the chipper drum and the first and second nip rollers; the first, second and third axes are disposed substantially parallel to the direction of travel of the tree harvester, and are upwardly inclined to the horizontal from a leading end to a trailing end, so that the first and second nip rollers are operable to maintain a stem of a tree being harvested in a substantially vertical position, while simultaneously feeding the tree downwardly through and along the chipper drum. |
