TODAY’S PATENT – DRIVE UNIT

The DRIVE UNIT was invented by James Summers (West Point, NE), Tyler Fraser (West Point, NE) on the 19^th of July 2016 , bearing patent number US9392754B1.

The present invention is related in general to the field of drive units and, more particularly, to irrigation drive units that can detect a change in stress and can turn the wheels of the irrigation systems to eliminate the stress. The present embodiment discloses a drive unit for an irrigation system comprising, a pair of vertical tower members, a base beam, a pair of drive wheels, a sensor, a hydraulic unit and a pair of connecting rods. The pair of vertical tower members each has a top end and a bottom end, the top end is attached to the pipeline of the irrigation system.

The base beam has a front end and a back end connected horizontally between the bottom ends of the pair of vertical tower members.  The drive wheels are driven by an electric motor and gearbox arrangement. However, the drive unit is cumbersome and creates arching or pulling on the truss span due to the heavy load as the drive wheels move through the field. The drive unit cannot detect a change in the stress on the span and is unable to provide proper alignment of the drive wheels to eliminate the stress on the span.