SORTING POTATOES INTO SEVERAL DENSITY GROUPS

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE DENSITY OF POTATOES AND COOKINGQUALITY HAS BEEN KNOWN FOR A LONG TIME. THE MOST DENSE POTATOES HAVE THE MOST TASTE AND THE HIGHEST DRY MATTER CONTENT. DENSITY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN POTATOES OF VARIOUS QUALITIES ARE SMALL AND UNTIL TO-DATE THERE IS NO COMMERCIALMETHOD FOR THEIR SORTING. IT IS PROPOSED FOR DENSITY SORTING POTATOES INTO SEVERAL DENSITY GROUPS TO USE DRY METHOD OF A DENSITY SEPARATION IN A FLUIDIZED BED MEDIUM (FBM). THE METHOD IS BASED ON A DIVING-ASCENDING MOVEMENT OF THE BODIES DROPPED FROM SPECIFIC HEIGHT INTO FBM COMBINED WITH THEIR MOVEMENT IN THEFBM STREAM IN A HORIZONTAL DIRECTION. THE ANALYTICAL MODEL OF THE PROCESS WAS DEVELOPED AND THE TRAJECTORIES OF THE BODIES SIMILAR TO POTATOES WERE CALCULATED. THE ANALYSIS OF THE DATA OF THE PRELIMINARY THEORETICAL CONSIDERATION SHOWS THAT SUCH A SCHEME POTENTIALLY COULD BE REALIZED IN AN APPARATUS WITH SUFFICIENT CAPACITY. THE FUNDAMENTAL THEORETICAL RELATIONSHIP ON WHICH THE SCHEME IS BASED SHOULD BE EXAMINEDAND EXPERIMENTALLY CONFIRMED UNDER LABORATORY CONDITIONS. THE PHASE I WORK PLAN IS PROPOSED TO STUDY THIS QUESTION.