The bunker grain mass coming from the combines to the purification points contains, in addition to grain, weed and harmful impurities, which include toxic sclerotia of ergot, causing disease in people and animals, and even death. Existing grain cleaning machines do not provide for a single technological process the complete release of ergot sclerotium due to the similarity of their properties and the properties of the culture being cleaned. Ergot sclerotia are less dense than grains of rye, wheat, oats and barley, which are mostly affected by ergot. Therefore, the complete isolation of ergot sclerotia from grain in one process can be carried out in aqueous solutions of inorganic salts. In order to mechanize the separation of sclerotium ergot from the grain by the wet method and to develop a device for cleaning the grain material that is not complicated in design with low energy intensity of the technological process in comparison with the existing grain cleaning machines, practical experiments were carried out on immersion of winter rye grain of the Falenskaya 4 variety into the water and in the aqueous salt solution sodium chloride (NaCl). It has been established that the effective height of the location of the loading bin relative to the surface of the aqueous solution of salt in the bath of the device for extracting harmful impurities from the grain material by the wet method is 40.0–60.0×10−3 m, at which undesirable capture of the air bubble by the grains does not occur. This determines the improvement of the quality of the technological process of cleaning the grain from harmful impurities of the developed machine for the separation of ergot.
In a grain pile there is material other than grain including poisonous ergot sclerotia. Grain and sclerotia of ergot by linear dimensions and speed of soaring have similar characteristics. Complete separation of grain from ergot by these properties in a single process is impossible. Cleaning seeds from ergot sclerotia with the specific mass less than the specific mass of grain is possible in a salt solution. To mechanize the separation of ergot sclerotia from rye seeds by the wet method, there is an urgent need in the development of an appropriate device. Under study was an immersion in water (ρzh = 1.0∙103 kg/m3 ) and aqueous solutions of sodium chloride (NaCl) with a specific mass ρzh = 1.09∙103 and 1.15∙103 kg/m3 of individual rye grains with their specific mass ρz = 1.2...1.5∙103 kg/m3 , length lz = 5.0...10.0 10-3 m, width в = 1.4...3.6∙10-3 m and thickness δ = 1.2...3.5∙10-3 m. Theoretical studies were carried out on the basis of mathematical modeling methods using the laws of hydrodynamics, which were confirmed by experimental studies with winter rye grains of the Falenskaya 4 variety with a specific mass ρz = 1.1...1.3 103 kg/m3 , length lz = 5.0...8.0∙10-3 m, width в = 1.4...3.6∙10-3 m and thickness δ = 1.2...3.5∙10-3 m. It has been established that the calculated values of the immersion velocity of cylindrical kernels and spheroidal kernels in comparison with the experimental values in water (ρzh = 1.0∙103 kg/m3 ) is not more than 2%, and in aqueous solutions of sodium chloride (NaCl) the specific mass ρzh = 1.09∙103 and 1.15∙103 kg/m3 – 7 and 10%, respectively. This approach to determining the speed of immersion of grain in liquid can be used in the development of the machine for cleaning grain according to specific mass using wet method to substantiate its structural and technological parameters.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.