Study of power consumption in vibromixing apparatus during Jerusalem artichoke drying

Abstract

Jerusalem artichoke (JA) tubers have recently attracted interest as a functional ingredient in food products with enhanced nutritional characteristics. Dried powder of JA tubers was prepared using a developed vacuum vibromixing apparatus to prevent degradation of thermolabile substances. The critical principle of technological calculations for vibrating apparatuses is to determine the power consumption of the load circulation, depending on dynamic parameters. The paper aims to examine the effect of changes in the amplitude and frequency of apparatus vibration on the power consumption while drying the JA tubers. The results obtained experimentally in the laboratory vibromixing dryer (282 mm in diameter, 186 mm in length) show that with an increase in the amplitude, as well as the frequency of the vibration, the time of mass heating to the drying temperature and total drying time decreased. It was found that the maximum useful power is transmitted to the load at optimal vibration modes: 1.44 mm amplitude and 50 Hz frequency. Thus, under optimal dynamic parameters, the approximate time of the drying process can be determined at the moment when power value is fixed. The current results allow automatically controlling the termination of JA powder drying through power change.