Study of the operation of an IR irradiator to disinfect the soil mixture placed in a thin layer on a conveyor belt

It is a common practice to treatsoil against pests and pathogens of agricultural cropsto ensure its disinfection using alternative methods, which include electromagnetic radiation of variousspectrums: ultraviolet (UV), infrared (IR), microwave (microwave), and high frequency (HF). The authors have developed an IR irradiator to disinfectsoil mixtures placed in a thin layer on a conveyor belt. In order to optimize soil mixture disinfection with IR irradiation, the task wasset to obtain regression equations of the irradiator operation modes. The authorsstudied different modes of the IR irradiation ofsoil mixture layer placed on the conveyor belt at the layer thickness of 10 to 50 mm, the IR irradiator hanger height of 50 to 250 mm, and the IR irradiator power of 9.5 to 47.5 W. The authorsstudied three main relationships describing the working process. 1. Dependency ofsoil mixture temperature on layer thickness at the constant IR irradiator power, constant height of the IR irradiator hanger, and constantspeed of the conveyor belt. 2. Dependency of the travelspeed of the conveyor belt on the hanger height of the IR irradiator at its constant power, constant soil mixture thickness, and fixed temperature range (T = 95±5°C). 3. Dependency of the conveyor belt travelspeed on the IR irradiator power at a constant height of its hanger, constantsoil mixture thickness, and fixed temperature range (T = 95±5°C). The obtained regression equations Obtained regression equations with an approximation accuracy of 0.976 to 0.999 can facilitate the calculation of the operating modes of various-size irradiators, optimizing the disinfection of soil mixtures with IR irradiation and integrate it with an automatic controlsystem.