Design, fabrication and performance evaluation of spiral gravity separator for soybeans (Glycine max L.)
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Date
2023
Authors
Kristine Mae T. Bagapuro and Leraine Joi R. Custodio
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Abstract
Soybean (Glycine max L.) is the fourth most important grain crop worldwide, after wheat, maize and rice (Grassini, 2021). At present, the Philippines imports over 99 percent of its soybean requirements from the United States, while the remaining 1% is produced domestically, as estimated by the Department of Agriculture. Separating the soybeans from impurities is an essential post-harvest activity in soybean production.
In CLSU, the existing soybean cleaner lacks cleaning capability as it only removes lightweight impurities, while heavier impurities stay intact with the good seeds. the study was carried out to design, fabricate and evaluate the performance of a spiral gravity separator for soybean in separating good seeds from impurities. In addition, this was conducted to determine the optimum shaft speed to facilitate the machine's separation performance and conduct a simple cost analysis. The developed soybean separation technology will decrease the labor time and effort and increase the market value of soybeans.
The spiral activity separator was designed and drawn based on the physical characteristics of the soybean seeds. It was fabricated based on the design plans and specification with five (5) main components, hopper, discharge chute, frame and transmission system. Three shaft speeds were evaluated 20 rpm, 25 rpm and 30 rpm. One (1) kilogram of samples were used for the three treatments, each with three replications. Results showed that 30 rpm produced the highest cleaning efficiency (93.25%) highest input capacity (31.1 kg/hr) and lowest cleaning loss (1.43%) while 20 rpm made the least mechanical damage (0.83%).