SOUZA, Cristiano Márcio Alves de.; PINTO, Francisco de Assis de Carvalho.; MANTOVANI, Evandro Chartuni.; MANTOVANI, Bárbara Helionora Machado.
Resumen:
The objective this work was to evaluate the effect of the mechanical threshing in the popcorn quality and to develop a software for simulating of the harvest process of a machine with bar cylinder and concave mechanism. The experimental tests were done with two varieties of popcorn, the Zélia and the CMS-34, and with three speeds on the threshing cylinder, 500, 600 e 700 rpm. It was analyzed the expansion volume and the concave separation efficiency. The Zélia variety presented greater expansion volume and greater mechanical damage compared to the CMS-34 variety. The error of the developed software in predicting the concave separation efficiency was 4,18 percent, that was considerated to be satisfactory for engineering aplication.