Simulation and experimental test of waterless washing nozzles for fresh apricot

To design a nozzle for washing fresh apricot with compressed air, four types of nozzles were studied by simulation and test methods. The working section for waterless washing was determined through the analysis of the air jet flow characteristics of the nozzles. In this working section, the best nozzle of the four tested was found through a comparison analysis of their flow characteristics by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation and pressure-sensing test. The results showed that the trends of the simulation velocity and the test stress were consistent. A machine vision test was also conducted to assess the cleaning effect of the four nozzles. The results showed that the best nozzle was the column cone nozzle, and its average waterless washing efficiency was up to 99.07%. This study indicated that the combination of a simulation and an experimental test can be used to analyse and design waterless washing nozzles for fresh apricots.