Dependency of hop material fall through on the size of gaps between rollers of the roller conveyor in separating machine

摘要

This paper deals with a roller conveyor which forms a part of the separating machine for hops harvested from low trellises. One of the parameters that influences the correct operation of this conveyor is tested, namely the gap between the rollers. The aim of the test was to discover whether the fact that hop matter falls through the rollers depends on the size of the gap between the rollers. For testing purposes a model of the roller conveyor was designed, made, and subsequently tested in a series of experiments with the purpose of integrating it into a separating machine. The measurements were carried out using a sample of hop matter harvested from low trellises. The dependency of falling matter upon the gaps was determined in view of eight gaps between the rollers. The measurements revealed that the gap size has an influence on the falling of hop cones and small-sized admixtures only if the gap size is larger than the size of the hop cones. At the same time, this parameter has no substantial influence on the separation of medium-length and long stems which were separated perfectly.