Theoretical Foundations of the Operation of a Machine for Picking Up, Storing, and Transporting Bales

Abstract

This article examines the theoretical foundations of the operation of a machine for collecting large rectangular bales of forage and by-products of plant origin. The relevance of improving the technological process of hay and straw harvesting is substantiated, taking into account the requirements to reduce the duration of field operations, lower energy and fuel consumption, and increase the productivity of machinery. A functional model of the technological process is proposed, covering the operations of searching for, orienting, grasping, transporting, accumulating, and unloading bales. Mathematical relationships have been developed to determine the duration of the work cycle, machine productivity, the orientation process of the working body, the probability of bale grasping, and the energy performance indicators of the system. Analytical relationships are presented that describe the influence of bale geometric parameters, the unit’s travel speed, the distance between bales, and the orientation system’s parameters on the machine’s operational efficiency. It has been established that the machine’s travel speed, the parameters of the orientation mechanism, the kinematics of bale pickup, and the capacity of the storage platform have the greatest impact on the process’s productivity and energy consumption. The results obtained can serve as a theoretical basis for further justification of the design parameters of machines for mechanizing the processes of picking, accumulation, transportation, and unloading of baled products.