Abstract
Reports on multi-flight screw metering of free flowing solid particles, with side entry feed, could not be found in the available literature. But since the author worked to investigate its applicability as a seed metering mechanism for grain drills, the present work was considered essential as the first step. For this purpose, samples of 15 different free flowing particulate materials were closely sized and a test rig designed and constructed. Nine rotors of three, four, and five slots or flights were considered at speeds of 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 r/min as desired. All experimental runs were replicated three times and the average values of the volumetric flowrates for each material, speed, and rotor were found. At the end a total of 410 data points were considered for analysis of the data based on dimensional analysis. The variable dimensionless groups were selected and analysed in such an order to produce linear relations. The overall results can be represented by the following equation:
It was concluded that metering, as described by the above equation, was predictable within the limits considered for each dimensional group studied.
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