The main aim of the article is to present the design of laboratory test equipment, which is appropriate for monitoring the efficiency of oil filters and the system for evaluating the technical life of engine oils in terms of possible extension of service intervals. The functionality of the designed laboratory test equipment for the filtration of motor oils was verified by a practical experiment with a verification measurement and assessment of the suitability of the hydraulic circuit elements and the designed sensing equipment. The laboratory equipment enables the testing of oil filters with different filtration capacity during simultaneous testing in two separate hydraulic circuits with differently contaminated engine oil, while it enables laboratory measurements to be performed while simulating operating conditions.

Cutting a tubular element into thin rings is an operation often used in engineering processes. Total work of the cutting consists of that necessary for initial deflection of cut material and the cutting work itself. This paper presents mathematical models which describe deflection of cross-section of a single tubular element as well as a single layer of tubes under action of external forces (acting and reacting ones). The deflection concerns end part of tube hence the cutting object model has been reduced to a thin ring. Results of calculation by using the developed models are presented for selected materials of tubular elements, which are commonly used for structures of the kind; moreover, they are prepared in a form of dimensionless diagrams, that makes it possible to use them for an arbitrary material

This article presents a research study aimed at determining the effect of selected hammer mill design features on the efficiency of grinding cereal grain. For the purpose of the study, a test stand was developed and constructed to test the influence of the selected mill design features on the efficiency of grinding triticale. The study was conducted with modern measurement equipment consisting of a torque meter with tachometer (MIR-20) and a two-channel meter (MW2006-4) connected to a PC computer. Recording of the measured values was carried out using the program PP203. The tested designs of the hammer mill differed mostly in the shape of the hammers. A characteristic shape indicator was the hammer angle (α). In the experiment, the design of a standard rotor (α = 0°) was compared to a new design (α = 35°, 45°, and 55°). Statistical analysis of the experimental results was carried out using self-developed software (Statistica Trial 10). The statistical analysis revealed that the new design of the rotor is more efficient than the commonly used traditional design and can bring significant economic and technological benefits. The results obtained from this study of grinding triticale using hammers with the shape of a circle section, hitherto unknown in the literature, are a valuable contribution to the theory of grinding. They can provide a basis for further research concerning hammer mills.

HighlightsThis article presents test results of a new cutting drum design for an agricultural forage harvester.The energy consumption in the cutting process of rape decreased with increasing speed and cutting angle.Cutting the plant material layers with the new design of the cutting drum is more efficient and productive.Cross-cutting of plant material into chopped straw is an important alternative to the currently used cutting method.Abstract. A comparative study of the classic design and a new design for the drum cutting assembly of a chaff cutter was conducted to determine the performance characteristics of both designs when cutting rape straw into defined lengths. The new design of the cutting drum made oblique cutting possible, which was not possible with the classic design. For assessment of the cutting process, two indicators were used: the effectiveness of the cutting process, and the unit energy consumption during the cutting process. The experimental results showed that the new design of the cutting drum resulted in a considerable increase in the effectiveness of cutting plant material into pieces, as compared to the classic design. Keywords: Chaff cutter, Cutting drum, Cutting of material layers, Cutting process effectiveness, Plant material.

The article presented describes a new design of measuring chains in laboratory test equipment, which are used for testing the hydrostatic transducers and hydraulic fluids. Laboratory test equipment allows simultaneous observation of parameters of hydrostatic transducers and hydraulic fluids by simulating the operating conditions under laboratory conditions, what can significantly reduce the testing time and economic costs. The new design functionality was verified via measurement of the basic parameters of hydrostatic transducers and changing the load of hydraulic fluids. Based on the results measured, the flow efficiency of tested hydrostatic transducer UD-25R was calculated and compared with the transducer parameters specified by the manufacturer using different types of operating hydraulic fluids. Verification measurements of the unloaded hydrostatic transducer were performed at various rotation speeds: Q ₂₅₀ = 5.694 dm ³ ·rpm at speed of n ₁ = 250 rpm; Q ₅₀₀ = 12.286 dm ³ ·rpm at speed of n ₂ = 500 rpm; Q ₇₅₀ = 18.747 dm ³ ·rpm at speed of n ₃ = 750 rpm. Based on the hydrostatic transducer flow rate, the UD-25R transducer flow efficiency was determined: at n ₁ = 250 rpm, the flow efficiency was η ₂₅₀ = 0.8946; at n ₂ = 500 rpm, the efficiency was η ₅₀₀ = 0.9651; at n ₃ = 750 rpm, the flow efficiency was η ₇₅₀ = 0.9812.

Comparative studies of the classical and new design of a chaff cutter’s cutting drum have been conducted within the frames of the study in order to determine their functional characteristics at the time of cutting rye straw into pieces of specific length (into chaff). A classical design of a cutting drum is of the shape of a roller and is suitable for material layer cross-cutting. However, the new drum design has the shape of a double truncated cone and, with the use of it, diagonal cuts in two directions can be realized. The studies were conducted for four designs of cutting drums with cutting angles α = 0° (classical design) and α = 15°, α = 30°, and α = 45° (new design). Three indicators were applied for the assessment: capacity, unit energy consumption, and the unit cutting resistance. The obtained results show that the use of a new drum design makes it possible, depending on the assumed parameters of the cutting process and the material’s compaction degree, to increase the process’s efficiency by up to 25%, lower the unit energy consumption up to 34%, and lower the unit cutting resistance by up to 8%. The conducted experimental studies have unequivocally shown that the use of a new cutting drum design, as compared to the classical one, results in a considerable increase in the cutting process’s performance. Studies on the new design of a chaff cutter’s cutting drum, of the shape of a double truncated cone, belong to original ones that so far have not been described in the available literature.