STUDY OF DESIGNING AND ENGINEERING FACTORS AFFECTING FLOW SYSTEMS OF LIQUID FOODS

Abstract

ABSTRACT Shereen Shalaby Sayed Shalaby: Study of Designing and Engineering Factors Affecting Flow Systems of Liquid Foods. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Department of Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, 2022. This study aimed to investigate the effect of designing and engineering factors, such as pipe diameter and material as well as measuring the loss in pressure and friction during the flow of food liquids with different texture patterns, and using different engineering methods to reduce this loss to reduce energy consumption and this is particularly important in reducing the cost of production in general, and reducing maintenance costs for production lines that can work on lowering operating pressures and increase their service life . A variable frequency drive (VFD) was used to control a single-phase induction motor’s speed to pump guava and strawberry juice at two solid concentrations (9°Bx and 11°Bx). Next, the pressure drop was measured in stainless steel and acrylic pipes of three diameters (25, 20 and 12 mm). The pressure drop percentage difference before and after using the VFD at varied flow rates (3,4.5,6,9,10.8 L/min) with 10 repetitions at 5 min intervals was evaluated. The pressure drop reductions’ range was 19.2 %–32.4% for the guava juice and 23.3% – 30.4% for strawberry juice after using the VFD, which resulted in reductions in the pump’s total head and driving power by the same ratio. Another comparison was made between pressure drop in acrylic and stainless steel pipes at the same diameters and flow rates and the results showed that the pressure drop in acrylic pipes was lower than that of the stainless-steel pipes with average differences ranging from 30.9% to 38.1% for guava juice concentrates and from 35.2% to 38.5% for strawberry juice concentrates.