Research in Agricultural Engineering, 2020 (vol. 66), issue 1

Dielectric technique combined with artificial neural network and support vector regression in moisture content prediction of oliveOriginal Paper

Mahdi Rashvand, Mahmoud Soltani Firouz

Res. Agr. Eng., 2020, 66(1):1-7 | DOI: 10.17221/13/2019-RAE  

Olives are one of the most important agriculture crops in the world, which are harvested in different stages of growth for various uses. One of the ways to detect the adequate time to process the olives is to determine their moisture content. In this study, to determine the moisture content of olives, a dielectric technique was used in seven periods of harvesting and three different varieties of olive including Oily, Mary and Fishemi. The dielectric properties of the olive fruits were measured using an electronic device in the range of 0.1-30 MHz. Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Support Vector Regression (SVR) methods...

Pyrolysis of wheat and barley strawOriginal Paper

Anežka Sedmihradská, Michael Pohořelý, Petr Jevič, Siarhei Skoblia, Zdeněk Beňo, Josef Farták, Bohumír Čech, Miloslav Hartman

Res. Agr. Eng., 2020, 66(1):8-17 | DOI: 10.17221/26/2019-RAE  

Pyrolysing agricultural crop residues and other biomass constitutes a newer method of transforming often difficult, waste materials into a novel type of soil amendment/additive. Simultaneously, this process also makes it possible to exploit part of the energy released in the agricultural production. Biochar, viewed as the solid product of biomass pyrolysis, is a remarkable, porous material, rich in carbon. Two agricultural crop residues, such as wheat and barley straw, were selected for the experimental studies. The results indicate that the practical temperature for the production of biochar from the two explored materials occurs in the vicinity of...

Investigation of sectional operating elements for conveying agricultural materialsOriginal Paper

Roman Hevko, Roman Rohatynskyi, Myroslav Hevko, Oleg Lyashuk, Oleksandra Trokhaniak

Res. Agr. Eng., 2020, 66(1):18-26 | DOI: 10.17221/25/2019-RAE  

The paper covers the results of the theoretical and experimental investigation of the developed sectional operating element of a flexible screw conveyer designed for transporting bulk agricultural materials. In order to determine the correlation between the design parameters of the hinged screw sections and the minimum permissible radius of curvature of a processing line, the analytical dependences have been deduced. The results of the experimental studies aimed at determining the efficiency of a screw conveyer and the level of the grain material damage depending on the change in design, kinematic and technological parameters of an operating element...

Study on the effect of the teat reaction on the time components of the pulsogram in various types of milking linersOriginal Paper

Kancho Peychev, Galina Dineva

Res. Agr. Eng., 2020, 66(1):27-32 | DOI: 10.17221/40/2019-RAE  

The relationship between the milking process phases and the artificial teat reaction have been studied. Milking units with a conventional and tri-circle shape of the pulsation chamber were used. The conclusions are related to the reaction of the teat support and the changes of the time components in the pulsogram. The filling of the milking chamber with an artificial teat reduces the absolute duration of the transitional phases "a" and "c" and prolongs the actual phases "b" and "d" in all the experimental rates.

Research of a contact impact of a root crop with a screw augerOriginal Paper

Viktor Baranovsky, Olena Truhanska, Maria Pankiv, Valentina Bandura

Res. Agr. Eng., 2020, 66(1):33-42 | DOI: 10.17221/75/2017-RAE  

The purpose of this research is the further development of the methodology and methods of optimising the parameters of root pile combined cleaners of a root crop harvesting machine. We have conducted theoretical and experimental studies of the combined cleaning system's functioning process. By executing the analysis, we found the motion of the fodder beet through the working surfaces of the feeding conveyor and the auger installed above it. We have got an analytical and empirical process model for the fodder beet's oblique sub-hit on the auger turn. It characterises the dependence of the total rate of the sub-hit coefficient of the technological...