Weed Seed Destruction

摘要

Weed seeds are destroyed in the chaff from a combine harvester by repeated high speed impacts caused by a rotor mounted in one of a pair of side by side housings which accelerate the discarded seeds in a direction centrifugally away from the rotor onto a stator including angularly adjustable stator surfaces around the axis. Thus the discarded seeds rebound back and forth between the rotor and the stator to provide a plurality of impacts. The seeds are carried axially of the rotor by a controlled airstream so that they move to an axial discharge location where a discharge fan is mounted. The angle of the discharge around the rotor axis can be changed to direct the seeds to the side of the combine away from a straw chopper, towards the guide fins of the tailboard of the chopper, or into the housing of the straw chopper.

主权项

1. Apparatus for destroying weed seeds comprising:
a housing arranged to be mounted at a location on a combine harvester for receiving from the location a feed material containing separated chaff and weed seeds separated by the combine harvester from harvested crop; a rotor mounted in the housing for rotation about an axis and including rotor surfaces thereon for engaging the feed material and for accelerating the feed material in a direction outwardly from the axis of the rotor; a stator arranged at a location along the direction and including one or more stator surfaces for engaging the weed seeds in the accelerated feed material; said stator and said one or more stator surfaces of the stator being arranged such that the weed seeds impact on said one or more stator surfaces and do not pass through the stator along said direction but instead are rebounded therefrom back toward the rotor; the rotor and stator being arranged such that the weed seeds rebound back and forth between the rotor and the stator to provide a plurality of impacts on the accelerated feed material to destroy at least some of the weed seeds; wherein the housing includes a discharge opening for discharge of the feed material after the plurality of impacts, where the discharge opening is at a location different from the stator so that said weed seeds discharged from the rotor through said discharge opening do not pass through the stator.