Dynamics of a Frozen Sea Buckhorn Berry Motion in a Separator

After removing frozen sea buckthorn berries from the branches of sea buckthorn tree in a separator (patent EE05717B1), the berries fall onto separator's moving conveyer belt under a certain angle of inclination, thus guiding the berries in the collector of separator. This paper presents the mathematical model of the berry motion along the conveyer and after falling from it. The nonlinear differential equations describing the berry motion on the conveyer and after falling from it take into account air resistance depending on the square value of berry's absolute velocity. All these equations were solved numerically by using Runge-Kutta method of 4th order on Mathcad worksheet. This paper focuses on berry motion depending on belt velocity, friction coefficient between belt and berry, and inclination angle of the belt. Composed video clip visualizes berry motion and demonstrates how the berry moves from the initial position in the same direction as conveyer belt velocity, down to lower edge of the belt and falls from conveyer. Results of this paper can be used by engineers designing conveyors and by educators teaching agricultural machinery.