Studying grain flow immersion into liquids of various densities based on the methods of experiment design

Introduction. In addition to grain, a grain heap of rye may contain poisonous ergot sclerotia. Modern grain cleaning machines do not isolate ergot sclerotia in one technological process because of the similarity of physical properties in linear dimensions. Isolation of ergot sclerotia from rye grain in one technological process is possible through the use of aqueous solutions of inorganic salts. The purpose of the study is to determine the optimum elevation of the loading hopper relative to the liquid surface. The data obtained contribute to increasing the quality of the technological process of the machine being developed. Materials and Methods. The paper considers the delivery of rye grain flow from the loading hopper outlet into the liquid by varying the specific grain load, liquid density and the delivery height. To set up the experiments, the experiment design methods have been used. The experimental data have been processed using the statistical package Statgraphics Plus 5.1. Results. The estimation of the effective elevation of the loading hopper outlet relative to the liquid surface when delivering grain flow has been carried out. There have been obtained regression models for the fraction of grains, which did not submerge and rose up to the liquid surface with air bubbles. Discussion and Conclusion. It has been found that the density of the aqueous salt solution has a significant effect on the percentage of grains, which did not submerge and rose up to the liquid surface with air bubbles. The smallest values of at different density of the liquid and specific grain load are achieved at a grain delivery height 56.0 ∙ 10-3 m.