Dirt removal and piling machine

Abstract

A dirt removal and piling machine is ideally suited for use in cleaning and piling individualized and non-uniformly shaped workpieces, preferably sugar beets but also potatoes, other tuber crops, and even with aggregate rocks for a tilting receiving station. A further aspect of the present machine includes a workpiece unloading or receiving station which can tip sideways after a dump truck unloads the workpieces and longitudinally drives therethrough. In another aspect, the machine also includes a cleaning station having rotatable rollers, an underlying dirt conveyor and a moveable dirt dumping conveyor, hopper or bucket adjacent an end of the dirt conveyor and external to the rollers. Furthermore, another aspect of the machine includes an automatic and / or robotic sampling arm which is operable to remove a tuber crop workpiece sample and automatically package the sample after the sample has moved through a cleaning station.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62 / 630,589, filed on Feb. 14, 2018. The entire disclosure of the above application is incorporated by reference herein.BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY[0002]The present disclosure relates generally to a machine and more particularly to a dirt removal and piling machine for handling individualized and non-uniformly shaped workpieces.[0003]It is known to provide very large, portable piling machines in the sugar beet industry. These conventional machines employ an unloading bin and conveyor for trucks to dump already harvested sugar beets upon, dirt removal rollers or screens, a dirt transporting conveyor belt, and a high-speed and narrow conveyor to discharge the cleaned beets to a beet pile on the ground. Another traditional piler uses a large dirt discharge container located directly below the cleaning rollers but without a conveyor belt therebetween; this discharge container a...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present dirt removal and piling machine has several advantages over conventional devices. It is modular, easy to disassemble, and can be moved to another jobsite or for maintenance. It captures spilled work pieces and minimizes damage to them. Additionally, it has an on-site sampling and bagging station that is more accurate, faster, and less labor intensive. The machine also reduces truck waiting time and increases workpiece processing rates.

Problems solved by technology

Another traditional piler uses a large dirt discharge container located directly below the cleaning rollers but without a conveyor belt therebetween; this discharge container approach is disadvantageously time consuming since the dump truck must await the slow movement of the discharge container from below the cleaning rollers, which also interrupts the cleaning operation.

These prior machines damage the sugar beets, making the beets susceptible to infection, rot and a reduction in their sugar content.

Furthermore, these slow conventional devices significantly delay the trucks between offloading the beets and receiving the discharged dirt, and also are prone to creating spills due to inaccurate or overflow offloading of the beets or discharged dirt.

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