Soil-blade orientation effect on tillage forces determined by 3D finite element models

This paper investigated the effect of the cutting parameters of a blade on the tillage force components using finite element modeling. A three-dimensional model was carried out with Abaqus Explicit in order to study the interaction between the tool and soil. The soil was modeled with linear forms of the Drucker-Pager model, while the tool was considered as a rigid body with a reference point taken at its tip. The effect of tillage depth and the width of a vertical blade were studied. It was found that the amounts of the draught and vertical forces increase linearly with a slope of 0.037 and 0.0143 respectively when the width increases. The narrow tool (width < 60mm) has a greater effect on the specific draught force than a larger tool. Draught and specific draught force increase with polynomial and linear curve respectively versus the depth. However, this effect was reduced for the vertical force. These results were in a good agreement with previously published works. The second part of this paper is focused on the oblique position of the blade to evaluate the effect of the attack angles on both the tillage forces (draught, lateral and vertical) and the cutting process of the soil during and after its failure. For all considered angles, the draught force presents the highest values compared to the vertical and lateral forces. Results showed that working with small cutting and an average rake angles (30° to 60° and 45° respectively) can produce a good soil inversion

Experimental and numerical study of tomatoes drying kinetics using solar dryer equipped with PVT air collector

The present work aims to develop a 3D numerical simulation that describes fresh tomatoes' heat- and mass-transfer characteristics using software COMSOL Multiphysics. Besides, a numerical study of the effect of drying parameters (drying temperature, Velocity of air drying and thickness of the slice) on the moisture content elimination from the tomato slice was realized. Also, an experimental study of the effect of the continuity and the discontinuity of the drying process on the water content vaporization is carried out. In contrast, the numerical simulation developed is validated by comparing the experimental data with the numerical results of the temperature distribution and mass transfer inside the tomato slice. The results show that the numerical simulation is agrees with the experimental tests. In addition, the results show that bacteria contamination appears in the tomato slice when the drying temperature decreases under 50 °C. The discontinuity of the drying process harms the quality of the dried product. Furthermore, the results show that the water evaporation rate in the thin slice was faster compared to the thick slice. Consequently, the drying time was reduced by 39 h when the thickness of the product was decreased from 33 mm to 10 mm. Also, the numerical simulation shows that moisture elimination is faster at higher drying air temperatures and increasing the drying air velocity leads to decrease drying time. The results show that the numerical simulation developed in this paper can accurately simulate the drying process characteristics of the agro-food product, especially Tomato, and that it provides a high spatial resolution of the distribution of water content and temperature inside the slice of tomatoes during the drying process

Numerical and Experimental Study of Solar Dryer Equipped with PV/T

Drying of agricultural food products in a solar dryer equipped with a PV/T air collector is a frequent research topic. Consequently, an experimental and numerical study has been conducted on MSD to examine the distribution of the temperature and airflow. Moreover, COMSOL Multiphysics software is used to solve a 3D temporal non-isothermal flow for the system invented. Further, the improvement of the mass flow rate dropped approximately the average PV temperature experimentally from 60 °C to 43 °C and from 63 °C to 47 °C numerically. Furthermore, the average outlet temperature of the PV/T reaches 60,5 °C in the experience and 62 °C in the simulation in the case where the mass flow rate is 0,012 kg/s, but it is dropped to 44 °C in the experience and 45 °C in the simulation for the highest mass flow rate of 0,0235 kg/s. Hence, the best recorded average thermal efficiency of the PV/T was 53% for the maximum mass flow rate (0,025 kg/s), while the average thermal efficiency of the PV/T was 29% when the mass flow rate decreased to 0,012 kg/s. Consequently, the recorded temperature in the drying chamber reaches 55 °C in the experimental data and in the simulation

Essential Oils-Loaded Polymer Particles: Preparation, Characterization and Antimicrobial Property

International audienc

Protein-Based Nanoparticle Preparation via Nanoprecipitation Method

International audienc

Human serum albumin nanoparticles as nanovector carriers for proteins: Application to the antibacterial proteins “neutrophil elastase” and “secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor”

International audienc

Nanocapsules containing Saussurea lappa essential oil: Formulation, characterization, antidiabetic, anti-cholinesterase and anti-inflammatory potentials

International audiencePlant-based remedies have been widely used for the management of variable diseases due to their safety and less side effects. In the present study, we investigated Saussurea lappa CB. Clarke. (SL) given its largely reported medicinal effects. Specifically, our objective was to provide an insight into a new polymethyl methacrylate based nanocapsules as carriers of SL essential oil and characterize their biologic functions. The nanoparticles were prepared by nanoprecipitation technique, characterized and analyzed for their cytotoxicity, anti-inflammatory, anti-Alzheimer and antidiabetic effects. The results revealed that the developed nanoparticles had a diameter around 145 nm, a polydispersity index of 0.18 and a zeta potential equal to +45 mV and they did not show any cytotoxicity at 25 μg·mL−1. The results also showed an anti-inflammatory activity (reduction in metalloprotease MMP-9 enzyme activity and RNA expression of inflammatory cytokines: TNF-α, GM-CSF and IL1β), a high anti-Alzheimer’s effect (IC50 around 25.0 and 14.9 μg·mL−1 against acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase, respectively), and a strong antidiabetic effect (IC50 were equal to 22.9 and 75.8 μg·mL−1 against α-amylase and α-glucosidase, respectively). Further studies are required including the in vivo studies (e.g., preclinical), the pharmacokinetic properties, the bioavailability and the underlying associated metabolic pathways