Development of Brown Rice Separator Using Electrostatic Properties of Rice -Electrostatic Properties of Rice-

정전특성(靜電特性)을 이용(利用)한 현미(玄米) 분리기(分離機)의 개발(開發)에 관한 기초(基礎) 연구(硏究) - 벼의 정전특성(靜電特性)에 관하여 -

As a preliminary step toward the development of a multipurpose electrostatic separator for agricultural use, this study investigated the effect of moisture level, geometrical characteristics and the electric field strength of a charging device on the electrostatic charging of brown rice, unhulled paddy, small stones and broken rice that are produced during the milling process. The results are summarized as follows. 1. Average electrostatic charge per unit mass of paddy is greater than that of brown rice. 2. Charge per unit mass of rice kernel increases linearly with moisture content and electric field strength of the charging device, presenting no correlations with length or thickness of rice kernel. 3. Frequency distributions in electrostatic charge per unit mass of paddy and brown rice kernels indicated that the portion, not overlapped, ranged from 10 to 29% with Japonica rice and from 32 to 49% with Indica rice. 4. The difference in moisture content between paddy and brown rice must be over 6%, if they are to be electrostatically separated to over 95%. 5. Theoretical portions of brown rice to be separated from a mixture primarily by the electrostatic charge and secondarily by the length or by the thickness were 95~100% and 27~76%, respectively. 6. Frequency distribution of electrostatic charge for broken kernels overlapped that of paddy and brown rice, which the small stones didn't.