EDEM Research Spotlight- An analysis of sprayer equalization of a fertilizer distributor
Altair Employee- RESEARCHER
- Hwang Seok Joon
- INSTITUTE
- Kangwon National University, South Korea
- DEPARTMENT
- Department of Biosystems Engineering
- SUPERVISOR
- Ju Seok Nam
- TIMELINE
- 16/01/2019 onwards
In this study, the spray equalization of the fertilizer distributor was analyzed using DEM simulation. The fertilizer distributor consists of the hopper, shutter, frame, scatter plate, and blade. The operating method is as follows: the dropped solid fertilizer from the hopper was scattered by the blade and the scatter plate. At that time, the amount of fertilizer was regulated by the opening and closing of the shutter hole. The simulation was conducted to analyze the sprayer equalization of the fertilizer distributor with the angle of shutter and the number of shutter holes set as the experimental factor. The area of shutter holes were set at 3 levels (852 mm^2, 1700 mm^2, and 2566 mm^2), the wind speed was 1.54 m/s, and the rotation speed of PTO was 540 RPM. Also, the 275 collecting boxes (EDEM grid bin groups) were arranged taking into account the ASABE STANDARD 341.4. As a result of the simulation, the amount of scattered fertilizer to the right side was 1.6 times higher than the left side at each levels. For future research, the optimization shape of the shutter will be derived from the simulation. 
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The analysis time in EDEM is shorter than the other commercial programs. Also, EDEM is easy to use.