ENERGY CONSUMPTION FOR FLUTTERING GRASS WITH A ROLLER FLUTTER

Hay is a common type of roughage, the quality of which largely depends on the duration of natural drying. In order to obtain high-quality fodder, it is necessary to minimize the stay of mown plants in field conditions. Nutrient losses during hay harvesting occur as a result of biochemical processes, leaching of nutrients by precipitation during adverse weather.In addition, harvesting hay is accompanied by mechanical losses due to the crushing of vegetative organs of plants (leaves, inflorescences) by the working bodies of hay harvesting machines. These losses not only reduce the collection of hay, but also significantly reduce the quality of fodder, since leaves and inflorescences contain 2-3 times more nutrients than stems, they are due to the unequal drying rate of vegetative organs of plants. Small vegetative organs of plants, due to the peculiarities of their anatomical structure, give off moisture more intensively than stems, and therefore they become fragile earlier and break off and are lost as a result of the action of working organs of machines. An effective method of accelerating and equalizing the drying rate of vegetative parts of plants is flattening of grass clippings. Thanks to this measure, uniform drying of the entire plant mass is ensured, and therefore, the loss of nutrients during hay harvesting is reduced. For flattening legumes, it is advisable to use mowers equipped with roller flatteners, because they act less harshly on the grass than dynamic flatteners, reducing the crushing of the most valuable parts of plants - leaves and inflorescences. The main operational indicator that allows you to estimate the energy consumption of the process of flattening grass is the power consumption for the drive of the flattening rollers. A method of determining the power required to drive the flattening rollers of mower-folders has been developed, which can be used for calculations in the design of roller flatteners.