Prediction of a fertilizer particle motion along a vane of a centrifugal spreader disc assuming its pure rolling

Abstract

The paper analyzes the motion of idealized spherical homogeneous fertilizer particle along the straight vane attached to flat rotating disc. The analysis, based on the assumption on the pure rolling of the particle along the vane (without sliding), has been performed in the non-inertial reference coordinate system, which rotates together with the spreader disk. The particle motion along the vane is described by hyperbolic cosine function, which is the solution of the ordinary in-homogenous secondorder differential equation having constant coefficients. Solution of this kind represents an approximation of the real motion of fertilizer particle along the radial vane fixed to horizontal disc rotating at constant angular velocity. However, it can be very useful for optimization of centrifugal spreader design and working parameters, as well as for further analysis of the whole fertilizer spreading process that also includes particle flight.

Keywords

• fertilizer
• particle
• motion
• radial vane
• analytical solution
• centrifugal disc spreader
• non-inertial reference system