Engineering paramters affecting cleaning of soybean grains [electronic resource].

Includes references.

The aim of the present study is to investigate the engineering parameters affecting the separation of soybean grains and study also the physical and mechanical properties of soybeans grains to obtain better cleaning efficiency and less losses. Cleaning machine was tested in Menofia Governorate to clean soybean grains (Clark variety). Physical properties of soybean grains such as length(L) , width (W) , thickness (T) , volume (V) , geometric diameter(Dg) , arithmetic diameter (Da) , percentage of sphericity (S) , transverse surface area (At) , flat surface area (Af) , bulk density(Bd) true density (Td), moisture content (Mc), and mass of 1000-seeds(km) were examined and determined. Mechanical properties of soybeans grain such as friction angle, coefficient of friction, angle of repose, hardness and terminal velocity for grains and their impurities, were tested and assessed. Engineering parameters such as air speed, sieve tilt angle, sieve oscillation, feed rate and moisture content, were also studied and determined. The obtained results showed that, the separation increased by increasing sieve oscillation, air speed and sieve tilt angle. The total losses decreased by decreasing sieve oscillation, air speed and sieve tilt angle. The optimum performance was achieved at air speed of 19 m/s sieve tilt angle of 4 degree (0.07 rad) sieve oscillation of 2.6 Hz (220 r. p. m), feed rate of 1000 kg/h, and moisture content of 13% Separation efficiency at these conditions was 99.65% and total losses were 0.35%. The operation cost was 5 LE/h (5LE/ton).

Summary in Arabic.

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