Honeycombs vibration cleaning process research

The aim of the study is to establish the influence of the main operating parameters of vibration cleaning of bee combs (frequency and amplitude of vibration) on the productivity of the working process. Research objectives: 1) to determine the rational value of the amplitude and frequency of the vibration effect exerted on the wax base of the honeycomb; 2) to determine the rational value of the vibration exposure time, at which the wax base retains its integrity (does not collapse); 3) to determine the possible percentage yield of recoverable contaminants at rational values of the amplitude, frequency and time of vibration exposure. The study was carried out on a specially made laboratory setup consisting of a vibration table, controls, measuring instruments and sensors. A feature of the study is the unevenness of the intensity of extraction of bee bread granules from the honeycomb cells during the working cycle, which must be taken into ac-count during the experiment. For this purpose, a method was developed to determine the percentage of recovered granules at regular control time intervals. The study was carried out at various values of the frequency (30; 60; 90 Hz) and amplitude (0.5; 1.25; 2 mm) of the frame with honeycomb vibrations. It was found that at small values of the vibration amplitude (0.5 mm), the total percentage of recovered contaminants in 4 minutes after the start of the cleaning process stabilizes at 80 %, and with an increase in amplitude to 2 mm, the indicator increases to 85–87 %. It is advisable to carry out vibration cleaning of bee combs at a frame vibration frequency of 30 Hz.