SUBSTANTIATION OF THE MAIN PARAMETERS OF A GRAVITY COLUMN WHEN CLEANING SOYBEAN SEEDS
Introduction. Conducted scientific research on the cleaning of soybean seeds in a gravitational way to improve the quality of cleaning technical and economic indicators of the installation. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the main parameters of the gravity column based on the geometric characteristics and gravitational forces using special combs when cleaning soybean seeds. Materials and Methods. A gravitational model of a soybean seed cleaning plant was used. The diameter of the comb bars was substantiated when cleaning soybean seeds. The optimal horizontal distance between the combs (log) was determined. The optimal throughput of the column was determined at different feeds (specific loads) of the starting material. Results and discussion. The optimal diameter of the comb bars for the gravity column was set at 1.5 mm, while the seed purity was 98.94% and the seed loss was 0.76%. The optimal horizontal distance between the combs was set to 22 mm, with a seed purity of 98.78%, the completeness of particles less than 4.0 mm in column 2 - 78.33%, seed loss in the second column - 0.79%. The optimal values of specific grain loads for combs with a gap between the bars up to 5.0 mm were set equal to 2.5-3.0 kg/(cm<sup>2</sup>·h).