A blower for chopped water hyacinth | |
| Author | Borhan, Md. Saidul |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no. AE-86-10 |
| Subject(s) | Hyacinths Fans (Machinery) |
| Note | A research study submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | A blower was developed, tested and evaluated for blowing of chopped water hyacinth. The diameter of the blower was 0. 70 m, width 0. 23 m and the thickness of the casing was 3 mm. Six radial blades of 4 mm thickness were fixed with blade-arm of 0.275 m long 38.1x6 .35mm angle bar. These angle bars were bolted to the back plate of thickness 20 mm . A conveyor was used to feed the material directly into the blower. Blowing operation was done at different speeds, inclination and feed rates. At 45 degree inclination the maximum distance of throw was found to be 19 . 9 m and minimum was 3 . 5 and width of the thrown material on the floor was 1. 5 meter. Distance of throw was measured at 1 meter interval along the horizontal direction to observe distribution of thrown hyacinth Regression analysis of the total peak power requirements of two components for blowing chopped water hyacinth was done . The two components were : (1) total power requirement for operating the blower at no- load condition, and (2) total peak power for blowing chopped hyacinth. The total power requirement for operating the blower at no-load condition consists of : (a) power for operating the blower motor, (b) power for air movement and (c) power losses from shaft, bearing , bush friction and windage losses . Total peak power for blowing chopped water hyacinth consists of (1) power requirement for overcoming friction between hyacinth and housing of the blower, and (2) power requirement for blowing (accelerating) water hyacinth . Effect of cutting lengths as well as effect of moisture content on power requirement was ascertained. Fresh water hyacinth(88 . 2% wb) was chopped in three different sizes (10.26 cm, 6.43 cm and 4.64 cm) for blowing . Trials were conducted with sun dried ( 13 . 31% moisture content) and partially dewatered (85 . 76 % moisture content, wd) hyacinth. The capacity of the machine was 10.8 tons/ hour at 180 kg/ min feed rate and at 1002 RPM . The peak power consumption in blowing was 7. 23 kW with equivalent amount of energy of o . 67 kW-hr/ton (2 .41 mJ/t). The overall efficiency of the blower was 20 . 35 %. Further testing of the blower with the harvester is required under field conditions. |
| Year | 1986 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Other Field of Studies (No Department) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Agricultural and Food Engineering (AE) |
| Chairperson(s) | Gee-Clough, D. |
| Examination Committee(s) | Gupta, Chandra P. ;Singh, Gajendra |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Canadian International Development Agency (ClDA) |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1986 |