Performance analysis of pneumatic grain transport system based on venturi principle

Energy expenditures have an important role in agricultural activities. It is obvious that contribution will be made directly to the country economy through studies on energy costs and performance of agricultural systems. In this computational study, it has been analyzed the performance of pneumatic transport systems which have an important role in grain and cereal industry. The current technology on this area is based on classical cyclonic principles limited to efficiency and performance. There are some problems such as excessive pressure losses and damage to the material being transported. Therefore, a pneumatic transport system which is operated by pressure decrease in a venturi passage such that the transport line is kept under positive pressure instead of vacuum provides some advantages. For this purpose, a parametric investigation was carried out to determine the effect of the suction from an annular section in a numerically modelled venturi passage on the pressure, trajectory and velocity which are the flow characteristics of the pipe line. Using ANSYS-Fluent software with the k-ε turbulence model and the Euler-Lagrange computational fluid dynamics model, flow parameters and particle trajectories within the transport line which has suction velocity values between 5 m/s and 25 m/s were analyzed in detail. The results show that the suction performance is improved under favorable working conditions.