As the name indicates, the Royal de Boer Poly rope uses a polyester rope as a pulling agent. The polyester rope is one of the most animal friendly materials to use in the cows’ walking alley. It forms a natural obstacle, is soft and doesn’t contain any sharp parts.
The drive is loved by dairy farmers for the following reasons:
The 18 mm thick polyester rope is very wear-resistant and pre-stretched. By pre-stretching the rope, the ‘springing’, the jerky running, of the scraper is mostly prevented. This special rope is recognisable by the green thread that is woven into the rope.
An alternative is the Dyneema rope. This 8 or 10 mm rope is made from artificial yarn and is characterised by the high pulling strength and the lack of stretching (springing). To improve wear-resistance, the rope is coated. This also prevents dirt from accumulating in the yarn. Dyneema makes the application of a rope drive a possibility for large barns.
The drive itself is very simple with regards to its construction. A light motor reductor uses a chain sprocket to drive the drum. On the bottom, the rope is entered through a castor wheel. The thermally galvanised frame is covered with a stainless steel plating.
The Poly rope drive for manure scrapers consists out of two drive stations that alternatively wind and unwind a rope around a drum. This makes the drive highly suitable for barns with one or three aisles. Depending on circumstances and implementation, the Rope drive is able to clean barns with an aisle length of 180 metres, while powering a maximum of four scrapers. The rope is fed at the bottom over a running wheel to the drum, which is built at a height free from the cows. This makes the system rather slender at the bottom, which makes it easier to install. The rope can be fed in from either the side or the front, which provides additional flexibility in installation.
This makes the rope drive applicable in many barn designs. For example, in robotic milking parlours, the Poly rope installation cleans an alley behind the feed fence, connected to the DG-321 control box. The area at the front of the robot, with the productive animals, is frequently and automatically cleaned at start times. Taking into account the feeding times, so as not to disturb the cows. The part of the corridor behind the robot, where the care and calving groups are located, is cleaned under supervision. Only after a manual command is given does the drive make the full stroke to clean the entire manure alley. This application offers optimal flexibility and animal friendliness.
