Abstract:Feed conditioner is a key component in the pellet mill, and conditioning is a very process during the pelleting and extrusion. To explore the movement rule and bonding state of materials in feed conditioner, the working process of small axial conditioner was simulated and optimized based on the CFD-DEM gas-solid coupling mathematical model. The method of establishing the coupling model was as follows: the structure model of the conditioner was built by the 3D software Pro/E, and the grid of the model was meshed by the software Gambit. The RNG k-ε turbulence model in the software Fluent was used as the fluid model. Afterwards, the discrete element model of wet stick feed materials was established by the software EDEM, and then the boundary parameters and coupling parameters of coupling models were set to be the basis of simulation. The blade installation angle, speed of conditioner and filling rate were selected as the influencing factors, and the output result was selected as evaluating indicator, thus the performance optimization experiments were carried out under the quadratic orthogonal rotation design. Based on the software regression analysis of Design-Expert 8.0.6 and response surface analysis method, the relationship between the three influencing factors and evaluating indicator was established. The results of the study showed that speed regulator and filling rate had an extremely significant effect on the evaluating indicator (P<0.01), and blade installation angle had a significant effect on the evaluating indicator (P<0.05). The output result of raw materials was selected as the chosen target;by using response surface method, the optimal aggregative index could be obtained under the condition that the blade installation angle was 38.49°, speed of conditioner was 182.2r/min, and filling rate was 58.4%. In this case, the output result of raw materials was 13.1g/s. Therefore, the conditioner had good practicability in the process of conditioning feed raw materials;the research provided references for performance improvement of feed conditioner and the parameters optimization of processing technology.
