US 12,453,311 B2
Electric row unit drive system for corn header of combine harvester
Daniel Reed, Brownstown, PA (US); and Eric Walker, Narvon, PA (US)
Assigned to CNH Industrial America LLC, New Holland, PA (US)
Filed by CNH Industrial America LLC, New Holland, PA (US)
Filed on Jun. 6, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/832,818.
Prior Publication US 2023/0389473 A1, Dec. 7, 2023
Int. Cl. A01D 45/02 (2006.01); A01D 41/127 (2006.01); A01D 69/02 (2006.01)
CPC A01D 45/021 (2013.01) [A01D 69/02 (2013.01); A01D 41/127 (2013.01)] 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A corn header for an agricultural vehicle, said corn header comprising one or more row units, each row unit comprising:
two gathering chains which together draw plants into a snapping gap;
two snap rolls positioned beneath the two gathering chains;
a first brushless DC motor (BLDC) connected to at least one of the two gathering chains for moving the at least one of the two gathering chains;
a chopping unit including a movable blade positioned beneath the snap rolls for fragmentizing stalks of the plants drawn into the snapping gap;
a second BLDC connected to the chopping unit for moving the blade and fragmentizing the stalks of the plants; and
a controller/processor connected to the first and second BLDCs for separately controlling the first and second BLDCs, wherein the controller/processor is configured to be connected to a computer processor of the vehicle,
wherein the controller/processor is configured to set a gathering chain speed based upon a ground speed of the vehicle, the controller/processor is further configured to set a snap roll speed as a function of the gathering chain speed, and the controller/processor is further configured to set a chopping unit speed as a function of the gathering chain speed.