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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #131511
Title: THE WOODWARD CHAFFY SEED CONDITIONER 2000

Author
item Dewald, Chester
item Springer, Timothy
item BEISEL, VICTOR - SELF

Submitted to: Applied Engineering in Agriculture
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/3/2003
Publication Date: 6/1/2003
Citation: DEWALD, C.L., SPRINGER, T.L., BEISEL, V.A. THE WOODWARD CHAFFY SEED CONDITIONER 2000. APPLIED ENGINEERING IN AGRICULTURE. 2003. V. 19(2). P. 219-223.

Interpretive Summary: The Woodward Chaffy Seed Conditioner 2000 was successfully tested using Texas bluegrass (Poa arachnifera). This grass is an extremely difficult species to process due to excessive fuzzy appendages which causes the seed to cling together in large clumps. The classifier unit successfully metered the seed material, preconditioned the seed, and classified the seed dinto quality classes. The conditioner removed the fuzzy material from around the seed leaving the glumes intact with greatly improved flow characteristics for planting. The Woodward air-seed shucker was used to determine percentage grain within a seed material sample and to monitor seed quality at various distances from the classifier. Percentages of grain content increased from 2 to 52% of the conditioned seed material as distance from the exit of the classifier increased from 0.6 to 2.6 m. These data indicated momentum discrimination was successful for seed quality classification. All components of the Woodward Chaffy Seed Conditioner 2000 are neatly assembled in a compact unit.

Technical Abstract: Unprocessed chaffy grass seed is usually a heterogeneous mix of stems, leaves, chaff, awns, hairs, empty glumes and seed of various size and quality. The objective was to develop a three-phase seed conditioner to uniformly meter seed, preconditioning seed, and classify seed. This was accomplished by using variable-speed horizontal augers for seed metering, rubber paddles rotating within a circular scalping screen for preconditioning, and fluidic acceleration utilizing the coanda principal and momentum discrimination for seed quality classification. The seed conditioner was tested using Poa arachnifera. This grass is extremely difficult to process due to excessive fuzzy appendages which causes the seed to cling together in large clumps. The unit successfully metered seed material, preconditioned the seed and classified the seed into quality seed classes. The conditioner removed the fuzzy material from around the seed leaving the glumes intact with greatly improved its flow characteristics. Percentages of grain content increased from 2 to 52% of the conditioned seed material as distance from the exit of the classifier increased from 0.6 to 2.6 m. These data indicated momentum discrimination was successful for seed quality classification.