Determining some Physical, mechanical and aerodynamic properties of chamomile flowers to design a picking mechanism

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Agricultural Machinery and Power Engineering, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering, Assiut Branch, Al-Azhar University, Egypt.

2 Agricultural Machinery and Power Engineering, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering, Al-Azhar University, Egypt.

Abstract

This study aims to determine some of the Physical, mechanical and aerodynamic properties necessary in machines design for handling and picking chamomile flowers. The study included some Physical, mechanical and aerodynamic properties of chamomile flowers. Where the average moisture content of chamomile flowers, stalk and stems was 77.81, 82.51, and 78.22%, (dry base) respectively. The results showed that the mean values of diameter for composite flower, disc flowers and stalk was 21.89, 11.53 and 1.16 mm, respectively. The mean value of bulk density for wet flowers was 0.31 g.cm-3, While true density mean value was 0.85 g.cm-3. The mean values of coefficient of static friction for wet flowers were 0.27, 0.26, 0.28 and 0.32, while it was 0.36, 0.34, 0.37 and 0.47 of dry flowers for surfaces of; galvanized sheet, stainless steel 304, rubber and plywood, respectively. The average value of bulk density for dry flowers was 0.14 g.cm-3, while true density mean value was 0.28 g.cm-3. The average force needed for picking fresh flowers was 3.02 N. The mean values of shear force required for fresh flowers was 0.74, 1.02, and 1.48 N for the three different shear angles: 30°, 45°, and 60°, respectively. The mean value of terminal velocity for wet was 3.93 m. s-1, while the mean values of terminal velocity of dry flowers was 2.42 m. s-1.

Keywords

{"sdg_fld":["9"]}

Main Subjects