US 11,751,510 B2
Baling machine including an operational status detector
Niklaas G. C. Monteyne, Blankenberge (BE)
Assigned to CNH Industrial America LLC, New Holland, PA (US)
Filed by CNH Industrial America LLC, New Holland, PA (US)
Filed on Sep. 20, 2019, as Appl. No. 16/577,881.
Claims priority of application No. 2018/5643 (BE), filed on Sep. 20, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2020/0093067 A1, Mar. 26, 2020
Int. Cl. A01F 15/07 (2006.01); B30B 9/30 (2006.01)
CPC A01F 15/0715 (2013.01) [B30B 9/3007 (2013.01); A01F 2015/076 (2013.01); A01F 2015/077 (2013.01)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A baling machine comprising:
a bale-forming chamber for receiving plant matter and forming it into a bale, the bale-forming chamber including one or more rotatable, bale-forming rollers and one or more bale-forming belts;
a feed mechanism for feeding a flexible wrapping material into the bale-forming chamber for wrapping the bale therein; and
an acoustic or vibration sensor configured for:
generating an output indicating one or more of whether the wrapping material (i) is being wrapped onto the bale and (ii) is the subject of a wrapping failure; and
sensing a waveform while the wrapping material is being fed into the bale-forming chamber;
wherein one or more of the one or more bale-forming rollers and the one or more baling-forming belts includes a series of plant-matter-engaging external protrusions supported at regular intervals about an external periphery;
wherein the acoustic or vibration sensor is configured for sensing a waveform generated using the external protrusions at a frequency or in a frequency range or at an amplitude or in an amplitude range that is characteristic of acceptable wrapping of the wrapping material onto the bale; and
wherein the acoustic or vibration sensor (a) is not positioned adjacent the feed mechanism and (b) is positioned remotely from a point at which the wrapping material is dispensed into the bale-forming chamber.