Research on air system design of rock separator machine developed by Allan Equipment

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This project would provide preliminary scientific assistance to Allan Equipment to develop an advanced Potatorock separator. Farming potato contributes highest for PEI agricultural industry which have highest share inoverall PEI's industry. The major problem encountered by farmers is during harvesting i.e separating rocksfrom potatoes. Allan Equipment is working in designing and developing an in-field rock separator which willintegrated to their present harvester. Currently, they are observing that after installing baffles in the air chamberbelow bed, the separation of rock from potatoes is uneven over the length of the separating table. The applicantwill assist Allan Equipment in analyzing their current design and identifying the causes of this low andnon-uniform separation characteristic. Based on the detailed analysis, the applicant will help Allan Equipmentto modify and correct the existing bed design elements according. Also, the applicant plans to assist indeveloping a fluidizing bed having better separation characteristics than exiting design. Based on the developeddesign the applicant offers to build a laboratory scale pilot plant to verify the developed design characteristics.This project may lead to future collaboration between Dalhousie University and Allan Equipment, leading todevelopment of more advanced and cost effective potato harvesting machines.