Studying the Operational Efficiency of the Centrifugal-Impact Feed Grain Crusher of the New Design

Crushing feed grain involves hammer crushers, which are characterized by high specific energy consumption and its uneven fractional composition. It is possible to obtain high-quality shredded grain with less energy when using a centrifugal-impact crusher of the new design with a hole in the loading neck to supply the chopping chamber with additional air at a rate of up to 4.8 m/s. An additional hole provides a 1.8...13-time increase in the airspeed through the unloading neck when the rotor’s rotation frequency changes from 3,750 to 2,250 min –1 , thereby enabling the timely evacuation of the shredded material from the crusher. The regression equations have been derived to determine the structural and regime parameters of the shredder, which ensure the maximal performance and minimal unit energy costs. The greatest impact on crusher productivity is exerted by the diameter of the sieve holes and the area of the bunker’s unloading window. The greatest effect on the specific energy intensity of the grinding process is exerted by the diameter of the sieve holes. The maximal performance of the crusher, 1,440 kg/h, and the minimal energy capacity, taking into consideration the achieved grinding degree, of 2.1 W∙s/(kg∙grinding degree unit), are observed when using a sieve with the holes’ diameter of 7 mm, the rotor’s rotation frequency of 3,500 min –1 , and the maximally open unloading window of the bunker, at F=1.458 m 2 ·10 –3 . The specific energy consumption for chopping barley is less by 1.22...1.89 times than that of the hammer crushers RVO 35, DB-5, KD-2A. The dust-like fraction is less than 5.74 %, which is half the amount of the hammer crusher DM-6. The rational crusher operation modes have been determined in order to prepare feed grain for feeding farm animals of different species and ages