ROW INSENSITIVE BIOMASS HARVESTING AND BILLETING SYSTEM AND METHOD

摘要

A harvesting system and method providing a row insensitive plant cutting and gathering capability, suitable for harvesting tall, stalky plants such as sweet sorghum, cane, and the like, in high volume, which also billet cuts the harvested plants. Multiple plants are cut simultaneously on a continuous basis at any locations across a header of the system, and the cut plants are gathered into a continuous overlapping flow having a vertical extent or thickness of several stalks or canes and their associated foliage. The flow is then vertically compacted into a mat of reduced thickness while being conveyed into a billet cutter, which cuts the stalks or canes into billets of a desired length and discharges the billets to a desired location, all while the harvester is moving through a field harvesting. The system can be incorporated into a conventional sugarcane harvester in place of conventional base cutters and row dividers.

主权项

1. A biomass harvesting system, comprising:
a frame supporting plant cutting apparatus configured to cut stalks or canes of plants adjacent to a ground surface as the frame moves forwardly thereover, a billet cutter configured to cut the stalks or canes into billets, and an upwardly and rearwardly extending lifting conveyor carried on the frame and configured to convey the cut stalks or canes upwardly to the billet cutter; the plant cutting apparatus being carried on a forwardmost portion of a header extending forwardly of and external to the frame and configured to simultaneously cut the stalks or canes of multiple plants spaced at any distance apart within a sideward width of the forwardmost portion of the header, in combination with gathering apparatus carried on the header configured to gather the cut stalks or canes forwardly and externally of the frame and to direct the gathered stalks or canes in a generally continuous, overlaying flow into a cavity of the frame, and a transfer roller unit including a plurality of transfer rollers disposed in the cavity between the inlet opening and the lifting conveyor, configured to compact the flow of the gathered stalks or canes into a generally flat mat and to convey the mat to the lifting conveyor for conveyance thereby to the billet cutter.