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Development and Evaluation of a Blower for Chopped Water Hyacinth

M. S. Borhan
Senior Scientific Officer
Farm Machinery and Post-harvest Process Engineering Divsion, BARI, Gazipur.

M. Alam
Associate Professor
Department of Farm Power & Machinery, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensing.

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

A blower was developed, fabricated and evaluated for blowing of chopped water hyacinth. The diameter, width and thickness of the casing of the blower were 0.70 m, 0.23mm respectively. Six radial blades of 4 mm thickness were fixed with blades am of 0.275m long, 38.1x 6.35 mm angle bar. These angle bar 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 and feed rates. Regression analysis of total no-load power for operating the blower and total power for blowing chopped hyacinth were done. The capacity of the blower was 10.8 tons/hour at 180 kg/min feed rate and 1002 RPM. The total power consumption in blowing was 7.23 kW with equivalent amount of energy of 0.67 kWh/ton. The overall efficiency of the blower was 20.35 percent.

Keywords: Blower, Water hyacinth, Chopping

Location: Department of Farm Power & Machinery, Bangladesh Agricultural University.

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Farm Mechanization

Non-commodity: Farm machineries

Objectives:

1) To fabricate a prototype blower using locally available materials.

2) To test the performance of the blower.

3) To determine the power and energy requirement for overall blowing system.

4) To determine the capacity and efficiency of the blower.

Methodology:

The blower was developed at the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand to work with the following conditons: 1. The blower should work with the hyacinth harvester and chopper previously developed, 2. The capacity of the blower should be 10-12 ton/ha, 3. The power requirement of the blower should be not more than 1k Wh/ton, 4. The speed of the blower shaft should be 800-1000 pm, 5. The machine should be simple in construction and easy to operate.

Basically this blower consist of six radial blades, blades arm, shaft, back plate all inside a casing and one conveyor that feed the material into the blower. For smooth running and less vibration six radial blades of 4 mm thickness and 224 mm width were chosen. The housing of the blower was concentiric, with a radial clearance of 3 mm between the blades and the housing periphery. The housing of the prototype blower was 7- cm in diameter and 23 mm in width. The prototype housing was made in such way that it can be tuned in any angle to see the effect of indinations on throwing distance. In this connection four pieces of 6 mm thick mild steel semi-circular plates with 12.8 mm semi circular slot were welded shaft so that it could be rotated without disturbing the required clearance between the blades tip and the housing. The inlet side cover of the blower was bolted to the housing, so that it can be easily dismantled. The blower outlet diameter was 229 mm. Diameter and length of the shaft was 38 mm and 60 mm respectively. In order to reduce vibration and breaking, balancing was done by trial and error method.

The water hyacinth plants were collected from nearby canal and chopped with chopper developed b. The blower was tested at Asian Institute of Technology, Bankok. Water hyacinth feed rate was varied from 1 to 2.5 kg/ sec with three tests for each feed rate. Each sample was blown at 6 different preset speeds of 403, 549, 656, 764, 888 and 1002 RPM. The total power requirement was measured by a watt meter. Power for blowing chopped water hyacinth, was the difference between total power requirement of the blower at load condition and no-load conditions. Total power requirement at no-load condition consisted of (1) power requirement for running the motor (11) power for overcoming friction and windage losses and (iii) for air movement. The power for zero feed rate was considered to be the power for zero feed rate was considered to be the power developed by the blower at no-load condition. The total power requirement for blowing water hyacinth consisted of (a) power required to overcome friction of chopped water hyacinth against the blower casing (b) power requred to accelerate the material

Source of Information: J. Agril. Mach. & Mech. 3 (1&2),Pag:91-96, 1996

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

The performance of the blower was quite satisfactory. The blower could be installed on a harvester boat along with the chopper. More tests in real field conditions are recommended to modify the design for possible improvement in efficiency.

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