Analytical model of foil consumption for cylindrical bale wrapping

The work presents an algorithm for the calculation of the consumption of stretch foil used to wrap cylindrical bales of fodder in order to isolate the fodder from the air and other external factors. Mechanical properties of the foil, its arbitrary dimensions and any overlapping width of subsequent wrapped foil layers ware taken into account. A simulation program was written that allows to compute the number of foil layers in the bale lateral surface as a function of the width of the foil, the angle of the bale's rotation around its axis and the number of wrappings. The computer program contains graphical module which allows visualization of geometry of the distribution of subsequent foil strips and the arrangement of foil layer in a bale cross-section. The length and surface area of the foil taken from the roll are computed for different variants of the wrapping process. The computational example is presented for two geometrically different ways of wrapping and different initial widths of the foil. Conclusions and suggestions were formulated as a result of the simulation.