How Do Combines Work?
BrontobbShucceemo > 10-11-2022, 03:42 AM
A combine is a large and complex piece of machinery that involves numerous moving and integral parts. These machines may or may not have a grain platform, depending on its usage, which typically have two types of platforms: spinning augers or a belt that separates clean grain from unwanted material before the harvest gets into the grain cart.
Because farmers plant more than one crop at a time, versatile machine models have sprung up over the years to harvest more grain types, as well as featuring a separate grain cart per crop. Modern combines can remove unwanted stalks, and most machines, like the John Deere combine models, can process the whole plant in one swift motion.
Here, we examine the inner workings of this modern farm equipment, and how these machines benefit farmers as they go about their harvest season:- [size=1]The collection of grains and cereal crops occurs at the front of the combine in a section known as the header. The header includes a couple of sharp pincers referred to as crop dividers.[/size]
- [size=1]Based on the width of the header, the speed and efficiency of the combine varies proportionately.[/size]
- [size=1]Maneuvering the header comes down to the use of hydraulics to help angle the section in necessary ways.[/size]
- [size=1]In order to push the grains into the cutter, a rotating wheel known as the pickup reel is used in the combine. The reel uses vertical teeth to help grasp the grains and smoothly move it into the header.[/size]
- [size=1]There is also a section called the cutter bar that’s located under the reel. This bar helps to cut the plants off at their base, acting much like a hedge cutter as the combine sweeps along the farm.[/size]
- [size=1]Once the crops move through the cutter bar, they are directed towards the center of the machine with the help of numerous rotating screws and augers. This leads them up a conveyor and into the main section of the combine.[/size]
- [size=1]In this central portion, a threshing drum is used to break the plants and separate the grains from the stalks.[/size]
- [size=1]Once the grains are separated, they fall through fine sieves that help to only collect the integral section of the plants. There is a collection tank waiting below the sieves to accumulate the grains.[/size]
- [size=1]The remainder of the plant, which includes the stalks and chaff, are directed to another conveyor called straw walkers. The conveyor moves the plant to the back of the machine, and during this process more grains fall into the tank of the combine.[/size]
- [size=1]Once the tank is entirely full, the grains are transferred into an empty trailer with the help of an elevator and side pipe located inside the combine.[/size]
- [size=1]A rotating mechanism is used in the combine to help spread the unwanted staff of the plant across a wide area. In other cases, the straw of the grains is also baled up with a machine and is used for various purposes such as animal bedding.[/size]