Improvement of the Process of Mechanical Dehydration of Five-Layer Wet Leather Semi-finished Products

Abstract

To improve the process of mechanical dehydration of semi-finished wet leather products, a multilayer dehydration using felt materials – monshons was experimentally investigated. The process is conducted by vertical feed of semi-finished wet leather products on a base plate between rotating squeezing rollers. The D-optimal method of mathematical planning of the experiment and the Kano design matrix were used for conducting experiments. The multi-layer package consists of five layers of semi-finished wet leather products and two layers of moistureremoving materials between each layer, folded over the base plate. The studies were carried out in laboratory conditions on an experimental bench, taking into account the production parameters of processing. As a result of the study, mathematical dependences of the amount of removed moisture for each of five layers of semifinished wet leather product on the feed speed and the pressure of the squeezing rollers were derived. The analysis of the results showed that, with the existing parameters of mechanical dehydration, it was possible to simultaneously squeeze out moisture from five layers of the semi-finished leather product with a minimum pressure of the squeezing rollers and an average feed speed. The productivity of the technological process was more than five times higher in comparison with the productivity of similar roller machines. In the near future, this research methodology will be used to determine the technological factors affecting the extraction of excess moisture from a package consisting of ten semi-finished wet leather products and moisture-removing materials.