RESULTS OF THE EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES UNDER LABORATORY CONDITIONS ON A BUTTER PRESS WITH A SCREW WITH LINEARLY DECREASING INTER-TURN VOLUME

The article describes the results of experimental studies to determine the energy consumption in the refining of butter granules to butter and the optimal design and kinematic parameters of a butter press with a screw with linearly decreasing inter-turn volume. For the experimental study, a design matrix was selected that approximates a D-optimal plan for a three-factor experiment. Mathematical processing of the results was performed using the computer programs Statistica v 13.3, MathCAD v 15.0 and Microsoft Excel on a PC. As a result of experimental studies under laboratory conditions on energy consumption during refining of butter granules into butter by the butter press with the screw with linearly decreasing inter-turn volume, the optimal (rational) design and kinematic parameters were determined: screw rotation frequency – 10.457 (10.5) min-1, screw shaft taper – 0.01473 (0.015), screw casing inclination angle – 9.66 (10) degrees. The energy consumption during refining of butter granules into butter by the butter press with the screw with linearly decreasing inter-turn volume is 3.436 (3.463) W·h/kg with optimal (rational) parameters. In this case, the range of variation of energy consumption values obtained by experimental studies in laboratory conditions at optimal and refined rational values is less than 1% and does not exceed 5% compared to the results of theoretical studies.