Effect of drum-grain-operating parameters on the flow rate through the orifices on the rotating drum

Agricultural Engineering Department, North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology - Nirjuli-791109, Itanagar Arunachal Pradesh, India

Received: 20 January 2005
Accepted: 9 June 2005

Abstract

The flow of granular material in a rotating cylinder is common in many industrial applications. In agriculture, a paddy sowing equipment called drum seeder has the orifices on the edges of a rotating cylindrical drum, through which the paddy grains fall out during the operation. The flow rate depends on various drum, grain and operating parameters. An investigation was undertaken to study the effect of the various drum, grain and operating parameters on the flow rate and develop certain empirical equations for the flow rate. The study revealed that the spacing of orifice, diameter of orifice, percent fill of drum and speed of rotation of the drum significantly affect the flow rate. However, the flow rate is independent of the percent fill of grains in the drum up to the orifice diameter of 1.28 times the equivalent grain diameter when the spacing of orifices is in the range of 3–4 times the orifice diameter and speed of operation varied from 18.83 to 47.17.