PERFORMANCE INDICATORS OF AN EXPERIMENTAL FRACTIONAL GRAINCLEANING MACHINE

<jats:p>The paper presents materials on the development of a prototype of a fractional grain cleaning machine. The original working bodies of the separator are described, which allow to increase its productivity. The principle of operation of the developed grain cleaning machine is based on the fractionation of the grain heap. The results of the conducted experimental studies of the separator installed as part of the technological line of the ZAV-50 grain cleaning unit are presented. It has been established that the first aspiration channel does not sufficiently remove light impurities, with a share of only 0.09...0.15% of the initial 1.62...2.96%. This leads to overloading of the screen mill and, consequently, to a decrease in its performance. To improve the performance of the first aspiration channel, it is proposed to increase its width and change its geometry. The proposed design of the screen mill has been evaluated as highly effective. The spike screens removed 0.16% of the 0.2% of large impurities in the initial grain. The remaining large and light impurities in the clean grain were effectively removed by the second aspiration channel. The seed screens removed 2.04% and 2.18% of the 2.71% and 3.29% of small impurities, respectively, with a capacity of 15.3 t/h and 29.7 t/h. In addition, 0.58 and 0.60% of the contaminants were separated through the sorting screens and removed from the feed portion. In the clean grain, the content of small impurities was 0.09 and 0.01%, respectively, according to the studied operating modes. Therefore, the experimental grain cleaning machine effectively removes all types of contaminants. However, it is necessary to improve the efficiency of the first aspiration channel to reduce the amount of small and light impurities that enter the screening station. This will reduce the load on the under-bed screens, which will increase the separator's productivity and improve the quality of cleaning.</jats:p>