DEVELOPMENT OF A PORTABLE PNEUMATIC GRAIN BROADCASTING UNIT

Ahmad, Mokhtar C.

doi:10.21608/mjae.2016.98015

DEVELOPMENT OF A PORTABLE PNEUMATIC GRAIN BROADCASTING UNIT

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Mokhtar C. Ahmad

Agric. Eng. Res. Inst., A. R. C., Egypt.

10.21608/mjae.2016.98015

Abstract

The present research was carried out in El-Sharkia Governorate, El-Sowa Village in 2014 season to develop and evaluate a portable pneumatic grain broadcasting unit under Egyptian conditions in clay soil. The study included three fan peripheral speeds of 1.7, 1.97 and 2.18 m/s with three grain path lengths of 50, 100 and 200 mm from air outlet under two types of dry and germinated grains. These parameters were evaluated with horizontal and vertical fan comparing to manual broadcasting on rice grains (Giza 178). Broadcasting width, coefficient of variance (CV), coefficient of distribution uniformity, consumed energy according to power requirements and total costs were determined under split-split plot design with three replicates for all treatments. The obtained results showed that fan peripheral speed of 2.18 m/s and outlet path length of 100 mm with horizontal fan gave the best results for all tests. The highest broadcasting widths of 10.2 and 8.8 m were obtained under horizontal fan with dry and germinated grains, respectively. The least values for CV were under fan peripheral speed of 2.18 m/s and 100 mm outlet path length. CV values were 20.22, 18.25, 17.33 and 22.21, 21.15, 19.10 under fan peripheral speed of 1.7, 1.97 and 2.18 m/s with 100 mm outlet path length for dry grains with horizontal and vertical fan positions, comparing to 47.50 for manual broadcasting. While the highest values of C.U. were 79.78, 81.75, 82.67 and 77.79, 78.85, 80.90 obtained at the same previous conditions. For germinated grains, CV values were 25.23, 21.12, 19.11 and 27.23, 25.15, 21.45 for horizontal and vertical fan, respectively comparing to 49.71 for manual broadcasting under the same fan peripheral speeds and outlet path length. The highest values of C.U. are 74.77, 78.88, 80.89 and 72.77, 74.85, 78.55 obtained at the same previous conditions. Consumed energy values were 0.56 and 0.87 kWh/fed, for dry and germinated grains, respectively. The broadcasting costs were 10.60 and 13.85 LE/fed for dry and germinated grains, respectively comparing to 20 LE/fed with the traditional method.

Keywords

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