Vermeer Manufacturing Company, Inc.

Daniel James Soldan

John David Vande Noord

Joseph Edward Breja

A material reduction machine includes a prime mover driving a cutting mechanism. An infeed portion engages a piece of material to feed it forward to the cutting mechanism. A sensor senses a machine load parameter via the cutting mechanism and/or prime mover and reports a signal to a controller operatively coupled to the infeed portion to control sequential cutting cycles on the piece of material. The controller utilizes a stored first stop threshold value for stopping a first cutting cycle and continues monitoring the signal as machine load increases momentarily after reaching the first stop threshold. The controller determines and adopts a second stop threshold value based on observation of the machine load parameter indicative of maximum load during the continued monitoring following attainment of the first stop threshold, and further being based on a stored correction factor. The second stop threshold value is used for a second cutting cycle.

Material reduction machine with dynamic infeed control

A material reduction machine including an engine, a material reduction tool, a drivetrain, and a control system. The drivetrain is between the engine and the material reduction tool, and includes a coupling and a power transfer element, the coupling having an engaged state and a disengaged state. When engaged, the coupling enables power transfer through the power transfer element and when disengaged, the coupling inhibits power transfer through the power transfer element. The control system includes a sensor to detect a speed of the engine or the material reduction tool, a drivetrain protection system to protect the power transfer element by disengaging the coupling, and a controller to enable the drivetrain protection system based on a first signal from the sensor indicating the speed is at or above a first threshold, and to disengage the coupling based on a second signal indicating the speed is below a second threshold.

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Pella, IA, United States of America

Daniel James Soldan