Bin Combine, Peat

Bin Combine, Peat

 

a machine designed for pneumatic removal and shredding of peat. The first model of the self-propelled bin combine was developed in the USSR (1930-31). Pneumatic trailers were produced in the 1940’s, followed by the development of self-propelled pneumatic machines. Bin combines were widely adopted by industry in the 1950’s.

The bin combine consists of a pneumatic unit (including a blower, nozzles, ducts, and cyclone separators), an airtight enclosed bin with the bottom in the form of a belt or scraper conveyor, an automatic metering device to record the amount of peat collected, and a transmission driven by an internal combustion engine. The machine and equipment are mounted on a chassis with a caterpillar tread. The shredding drum is towed behind the bin combine. The bin combine simultaneously removes a dried layer of shredded peat and shreds a new layer of the peat bog. Removal of the shredded peat is accomplished during the operation of the bin combine by sucking the peat dust in through the nozzle and conveying the mixed air and peat through the ducts to the cyclone. Finally, the peat particles are separated from the air and fall into the bin, where they remain until hauled to a stockpile for unloading. The bin combine travels in a circle; its work cycle consists of an operating pass (approximately 450 m) in a charted section of land, a trip to the stockpile where the peat is unloaded from the bin, and then a shift over to another section of land.

Use of the bin combine increases the amount of peat collected by 36-50 percent per season, in comparison with removal by a bin harvester, and decreases the moisture content of the final product. Bin combines perform 15-20 percent of the peat shredding in the USSR.

A. V. LAZAREV