Study of a piston press for forming substrate blocks when growing mushrooms

The article presents a new design of a piston press for forming substrate blocks for growing mushrooms. Unlike existing designs, the compression chamber has a variable cross-section, and the piston is made in the form of two movable contacting operating plates moving relatively to each other. The advantages of the proposed press: uniform filling of a plastic bag with mushroom substrate, uniform density of the substrate block and increased productivity. The results of theoretical and experimental studies are presented: an analytical expression for the force on the piston during the formation of substrate blocks and experimental dependences on the speed of movement for various types of substrate material.