What is the function of Rotary Rake?

In the rhythm of haymaking, efficiency between mowing and baling is crucial. The key step in gathering cut hay into uniform windrows lies with the Rotary Rake. Understanding the core functions of a Rotary Rake is crucial for any farmer or contractor serious about hay quality, maximizing drying speed, and streamlining the baling process. Join SHUOXIN for a deeper dive into the uses of a rotary rake.

Basic Function

The core function of a Rotary Rake is to gather cut hay, straw, or other forage crops into windrows and form them into long, continuous, uniform windrows.

Key Uses

1. Accelerated Drying: Spreading the chopped hay to maximize sunlight and wind, resulting in rapid initial drying. However, once the hay reaches approximately 40% moisture content, further drying requires compacting the windrows. Compared to tightly packed windrows, windrows have a looser, more airy structure, allowing moisture to drain more efficiently throughout the windrow. This significantly speeds up the final drying phase, allowing it to reach a safe moisture content for baling.

2. Tedding and Aeration: Many rotary rakes are equipped with adjustable rotor speed and tip angle settings, enabling them to perform a secondary function: tedding. By operating at a higher speed and a specific angle, the rake can actively loosen and spread the swath without fully forming the swath. This breaks up clumps, exposes moist substratum, and promotes faster initial drying, especially in wet conditions or when crop yields are high.

3. Swath Merging: Swath merging is a key efficiency feature, especially for larger equipment. A rotary rake can collect swaths from multiple adjacent swaths and merge them into a single, larger windrow. This creates a denser, more consistent windrow that perfectly matches the capacity of high-throughput balers, significantly reducing the number of passes required during baling and saving significant time and fuel.

4. Windrow Formation and Consistency: A high-quality rotary rake not only collects windrows but also creates a uniform, fluffy windrow with consistent density. This consistency allows for more even feeding into the baler, reduces clogging, and produces tighter, more uniform bales. On the other hand, gentle handling minimizes leaf breakage, preserving valuable nutrients and forage quality while also reducing contamination.

Working Principle

A rotary rake operates using multiple vertically rotating rotors, each equipped with flexible, outward-facing tines. Their functions are as follows:

Feeding: As the rake moves forward, the rotating tines sweep along the ground, engaging the cut grass in the bale.

Lifting and Conveying: The tines gently lift the grass. The specific rotation direction and angle of each rotor directs the lifted grass inward or sideways.

Wind Forming: The synchronized motion of the rotors deposits the transported grass onto the ground behind the rake in the desired windrow shape—typically a single, centered windrow, but sometimes two separate windrows, depending on the configuration.

Aeration: As the forage is processed, the tines continuously aerate it, increasing the porosity of the windrow for better drying.