Justification of the design of an aerodynamic separator for cleaning sunflower seed mixture waste

The aim of the research is to substantiate the structural and technological scheme of an aerodynamic separator for cleaning waste from sunflower seed mixtures, ensuring the separation of elongated particles based on their specific weight and morphometric characteristics. This is achieved by modifying the formation of pseudo-fluidized layers and the sequence of applying the principles of pseudo-fluidized flow generation. A method for separating bulk mixtures in a two-stage environment has been proposed. It includes the gravitational feeding of particles, increasing vibro-inertial impact, pseudo-fluidized medium generation, and the removal of dense fractions. The second stage involves separation through the sequential application of vibro-inertial and pneumatic methods of pseudo-fluidized medium generation, the use of a suspended layer, and the creation of a low-concentration layer. The structural and technological scheme of a column-type separator has been substantiated. Numerical modeling of the separation process of seed waste components in the rarefaction chamber allowed for the determination of motion trajectories and component distribution. The obtained dependencies include the distance between the peaks of husk and fine particle distributions (Δy) as a function of the effective diameter (Dp), feed rate (Va), and the curvature radius of the upper edge of the chamber (R). The optimal factor values are: for Dp = 0.005 m → Va = 3.21 m/s, R = 0.055 m; for Dp = 0.010 m → Va = 3.35 m/s, R = 0.056 m; for Dp = 0.015 m → Va = 3.49 m/s, R = 0.054 m. The average distance between distribution peaks is Δy = 0.443 m. Based on modeling and validated parameters, an experimental prototype of the column-type aerodynamic separator was developed and implemented in production at LLC «NVO Sorting Machines».