Abstract
To improve the quality and effectiveness of pre-sowing treatment of seeds of grain crops, a hypothesis was put forward on the possibility of using the air flow to continuously perform a set of technological operations in the process of dressing. The proposed approach is implemented in a unrivalled pneumomechanical deresser, in the processing chamber of which a multiphase flow of dispersed mixture “air-seeds-droplet” is formed. For the theoretical justification of the main parameters of the processing process, a mathematical model of the movement of seeds and fine droplets of the working fluid was developed and numerically solved taking into account the decrease in their concentration along the length of the working chamber. As a result, it was found that the speeds of seeds and drops of different sizes as they move in the processing chamber naturally increase, and the concentration of drops decreases asymptotically. It was revealed that to ensure high quality processing at the entrance to the processing chamber, the seeds should move in suspension with the speed of the corresponding droplet speed of the working fluid. The minimum path length of the “air-seed-droplet” mixture is substantiated, where the maximum decrease in the concentration of drops occurs due to the adhesion of seeds suspended in the air flow to the surface. The results obtained are important for optimizing the length of the processing chamber, substantiating the modes and parameters of the movement of air, grain and drops, at which full coverage of seeds with a minimum flow rate of the working fluid is achieved. In the long term, the research results will serve as the basis for optimizing the design and technological parameters of pneumomechanical dressers, which ensure high quality and efficiency of pre-sowing treatment of seeds of grain crops.
Highlights
In modern grain production technologies, pre-sowing seed treatment with liquid working solutions of chemical and biological protective and stimulating agents occupies an important place in order to protect them from diseases, pests and stimulate vigorous initial development in the soil
As a result of mathematical modeling, differential equations (5), (6), (21) were obtained that describe the process of coating seeds of grain crops with fine particles of the working fluid in the processing chamber, taking into account a decrease in their concentration
In order to fully confirm the hypothesis put forward that it is possible to use the air flow in seed dressers to perform several seed loading operations in a single continuous process stream while simultaneously eliminating dust and creating the stream suspending seeds in the air, which ensures that each grain is coated with a working fluid, in the future it is necessary carry out studies to substantiate the speed of the air flow, providing a balanced state of seeds at the entrance to the processing chamber
Summary
In modern grain production technologies, pre-sowing seed treatment (dressing) with liquid working solutions of chemical and biological protective and stimulating agents occupies an important place in order to protect them from diseases, pests and stimulate vigorous initial development in the soil. The analysis of scientific and technical literature and patent studies show that in modern seed dressers presowing treatment is carried out in a closed chamber by applying a working solution in a small drop form on seeds scattered throughout the chamber volume [4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12]. It is known that pneumatic systems that are used to perform various technological operations have found widespread use in agricultural machines [13,14,15,16,17] Based on these studies, a hypothesis was put forward on the possibility of using the air flow in seed dressers to perform a complex of technological operations in a single continuous stream, including the creation of a suspended state of seeds in the processing zone, which provides coverage of each grain with a working fluid. One of the main structural elements of the pneumomechanical seed dresser is the treatment chamber, where fine drops of the working fluid are applied to seeds moving in the air stream
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