Research of the process of air separation of grain material in a vertical zigzag channel

The aim of the research is to determine ways to improve the efficiency of grain materials pneumatic separation based on the study of the interaction mechanism of grains with the air flow in the channel elements, which are inclined sections of the air duct. The paper considers a modified separation method that separates the grain material according to the aerodynamic properties of the components in a vertical zigzag air channel in an aerodynamic and gravitational field. The studies were carried out by means of mathematical modeling followed by experimental confirmation of the modeling results. A computer mathematical model was created in the MathCad 13 application package to determine the parameters of the zigzag aspiration channel. This model describes the influx of parameters in the channel (width, height, cut of the zigzag ledge to the horizon, edge of the zigzag ledge) on the nature of the grain trajectory. As a result of the numerical simulation process using the mathematical package Mathematica, dependence was obtained to determine the trajectory of motion depending on the angular velocity. An increase in the pneumatic separation effect during the grain mixtures division due to the influence of the Magnus effect was established as a result of experimental studies. The design of a zigzag separator with an annular channel section has been improved based of the research carried out.