A swath inverter for accelerated drying of hay before packaging

Drying both top and bottom surfaces of wide, thin hay swaths with solar energy is a promising approach to decreasing the time of drying while keeping leaf losses due to machine manipulation at a minimum. The main objective of this research was to design and construct a machine for inverting a swath of hay without bunching it and for redepositing it in a wide, thin swath for solar drying of the newly exposed surface. The machine designed and constructed was towed by a tractor. The main components were a pickup-conveyor and an inverting mechanism which functioned together to pick up a swath of hay, invert it, then redeposit the inverted swath on the ground. A rotating hexagonal cross-section drum with multiple belts moving axially was used to carry the hay in a helical path towards the back of the machine and thus accomplish the swath inversion. A side shield placed around the drum kept the hay from falling to the ground before complete inversion. The drive assembly for the machine consisted of a friction driven lugged wheel engaging each of two support wheel tires to turn a cross shaft which in turn drove the center shaft of the inverting mechanism and the pickup-conveyor mechanism cross shaft. The lugged wheels could be disengaged from the tires by means of hydraulic cylinders. Field test of the machine operation showed an incomplete swath inverting action. The swath was "bunched" by the machine and not redeposited on the ground in a wide, thin layer. Problems causing this action were identified, however, and changes in the machine for correction were recommended. Swath inversion by hand gave improved drying rate of 2.47 percentage points of moisture content per hour compared to 1.91 percentage points per hour for the uninverted swath and 1.5 percentage points per hour for the machine inverted swath.