Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to design the geometrical structure of banana screen, and this study aims to improve the screen efficiency.
Design/methodology/approach
The discrete element method was used to simulate the sieving process of banana screen with the inclinations of decks improved by Fibonacci sequence. The effect of each deck along screen length on the screening efficiency of particles was studied in this paper.
Findings
The comparisons among three groups of industrial banana screens with five different consecutive Fibonacci numbers have been made, and the variations of fine particle ratio were also investigated. The results show that the banana screening improved by the 5 Fibonacci sequence, 3, 5, 8, 13 and 21, has the good screening performance in the simulation. It is found that the inclination degree of the first deck at the feed end is the key factor to determine screening efficiency of banana screens.
Practical implications
It is not possible to consider all real physical factors exactly in a virtual model. The experiment prototype of banana screen was used to simply verify the feasibility of the methodology.
Originality/value
This work is helpful for designing the geometric parameters of the curved screen and gives a broad perspective to improve the efficiency of banana screens.
This paper presented an investigation of particle collision and penetration using the discrete element method to understand the motion of particles and improve theoretical treatment in the sieving process. The process progressively was divided into looseness, stratification, collision, and penetration. Particle penetration has a direct effect on the screening performance. The penetration probability was defined, and the mathematical relationships between particle penetration and vibration parameters were established using the least squares method. To obtain the ideal penetration probability for materials the amplitude and frequency should preferably be near 3.0 mm and 25 Hz, respectively. The vibration direction angle has only a slight effect on penetration. The stage of the screening process from 0.1 to 0.7 s is the primary region for collision and penetration. This paper focused on the sieving process to more fully understand how particle collision and penetration influence the screening efficiency.
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