Discrete element simulation of brown rice and paddy rice on shaking separator machine

Abstract

Importance of the work: The operational performance of the tray of a rice separator point is critical to the productivity of a system. Objectives: To determine the angle effects and the influence of the mixing ratio on the separation efficiency of materials. Materials & Methods: Rice seed movement was described based on Newton’s law and the Hertz-Mindlin contact model. In the simulation, the paddy rice was mixed in the range 5–50%, the tray was angled 3.5–5.0°, the average particle diameter was 2.13 mm and length was 8.38 mm, with 14% wet basis moisture content. The shaking separator machine for brown and paddy rice was evaluated using discrete element simulation and experiments at the same scale. Results: The simulations predicted the motion of particles very well. The simulation showed that 4.30° was the most appropriate tilt angle of the tray for separating the paddy, with a maximum rejection efficiency of 0.89 Main finding: Several tests or one test with several results are necessary to better select all parameters. The simulation result was confirmed by the experiment in terms of the efficiency of separation and movement on the tray.