Polyurethane Decks in Centrifugal Oat Dehulling

Introduction. Oat-meal mills often have a low efficiency ratio of oat grains, which may be improved by new dehulling methods. The present research proved that it is possible to reduce the amount of destroyed cores by replacing elastic steel decks with viscoelastic polyurethane ones. The research objective was to assess the feasibility of using viscoelastic material in oat dehulling. Study objects and methods. The study featured two size fractions of oats. The grain was harvested in the foothills of the Altai Territory in 2017. A set of comparative tests was performed to define the efficiency of two dehulling machines. One had a standard metal deck, while the other had a deck made of material of A-80-95 ShA and an elastic modulus of 2.8 MPa during the second dehulling. Results and discussion. The polyurethane deck remained efficient for the first fraction during the second dehulling after 400 tons, for the second fraction – after 1,500 tons. The dehulling coefficient for the polyurethane deck exceeded the results for the metal deck by 12.0% during the second dehulling of the first fraction and by 5.9% during the second peeling of the second fraction. The integrity of the core increased by 34.0% for the first fraction and by 30.0% for the second fraction, which increased the mass fraction of the finished product by 2.9%. Conclusion. Ppolyurethane decks proved efficient for the second dehulling of the first and second fractions. Their use improved the processing of oat grains into Hercules oat flakes by 3.1%.