Manufacturing and Testing a Double Action Feed Pellet Durability Measuring Device

Abstract

The experiment was aimed to evaluate a locally manufactured a dual-action device used for measuring feed pellets durability. The device performs dropping process in conventional devices, then sifting process to separate the pellets from the crumbles simultaneously, with a control the motor speed by using the pulse width modulation (PWM) Technique. The device performance was compared with the durability measuring device of a moving drop box. Rotational speed, diameter of the die holes of the machine was used in this study. The results showed that increasing the rotational speed of the die from 280 to 300 and to 320 rpm, increasing the die holes diameter from 3 to 4 and to 5 mm, led to a significant decrease in the feed pellets durability, for both devices. The lowest die speed of 280 rpm, the minimum diameter of the die holes of 3 mm, recorded the highest pellets durability of 94.45% with the test speed of 33 rpm for the dual action measuring device as well as 93.45% for the movable drop box device. A highly significant correlation was found between data of the both devices. Test device success was proven for measure feed pellets durability.