DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND PERFORMANCEEVALUATION OF AN ALMOND KERNEL EXTRACTION MACHINE: 2. SEPARATING, GRADING AND CLEANING UNITS

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Assoc. Prof., Ag. Eng. Dept., Fac. of Agric., Cairo University, Giza, Egypt.

Abstract

Separating unit performs the second operation in almond kernel extraction as almond grading is necessary to further processing. Separating, grading and cleaning units were added to almond kernel extraction machine. The separating unit was developed through consecutive stages of design, fabrication and evaluation. Some physical and mechanical properties (dimensions, mass, volume, static coefficient of friction and terminal velocity) of almond kernel that are pertinent to the mechanical processing were measured and considered in design stage of separating, grading and cleaning units. The developed units were evaluated at four levels of crank speed (CS) (200, 225, 250 and 275 rpm), four levels of feeding rate (FR) (173, 183, 295, 357 kg h-1) and three levels of sieve angle (SA) (5, 10 and 20 deg.). The Evaluation was based on the following parameters: grading efficiency (GE), machine capacity (Pm) and consumed energy (CE). The results recommend operating the machine at combinations of CS =225→250 rpm, SA =5→20 degrees at different FR to maximize GE value of 87.97 % - 95.7%.

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Main Subjects

References

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Misr Journal of Agricultural Engineering
Volume 35, Issue 2
April 2018
Pages 423-444

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