Problems and countermeasures in the detection of aimal poultry livestock fish feed mixer

With the rapid development of the feed industry, feed safety has received more and more attention from the relevant state departments. The production of safe feed is an important issue related to the sustainable development of feed production and human health. In the animal feed manufacturing plant production process, accurate mixing technology is the most important link to ensure feed safety, and it plays a key role in the growth and safety of the feeding objects. The key equipment of the mixing process is the mixer. Many countries clearly stipulate that the main indicators of any form of mixer should be tested after the factory is completed. The testing is implemented by the certified testing agency in accordance with the relevant standards.

Richi Machinery powder feed mixing machine for animal feed:

(1)SLHY Horizontal 250KG/BATCH single shaft double ribbon mixer with ce

(2)SLHJ single-shaft 500kg/batch animal feed mixer with ce

(3)500KG/BATCH SLHSJ Horizontal Animal Feed Double Shaft Mixer

(4)1000KG/BATCH Horizontal SLHJ Stainless Steel Feed Mixer

(5)1500KG/BATCH SLHY Multi Animal Feed Mixing Equipment

(6)2000KG/BATCH SLHY Big capacity poultry livestock powder feed mixing machine with ce

In the detection of animal feed mixers, mixing uniformity and residual rate are the two main indicators for judging the quality of the mixer, and they are also the guarantee for the equipment to obtain safe feed in actual use. At present, the results of testing these two main indicators of the mixer are affected by many factors. Some factors are sensitive to the test results and difficult to control. This is the most important problem in the current detection of feed mixers. Improving the detection accuracy and reducing the factors that interfere with the detection results are the first problems to be solved. This article discusses the problems and countermeasures in feed detection, hoping to provide references for the scientific application of feed mixers.

1. Importance of feed mixer detection

(1) Ensure consumer safety

The feed mixing system is the core of feed production, and all countries advocate the development of feed processing equipment in the direction of specialization, high efficiency, low consumption, green environmental protection, safety and health, and high reliability. As the core of feed production, feed mixing system requires not only equipment manufacturers to improve technical production capacity and manufacturing quality, but also requires testing institutions to improve testing level, use testing results as guidance, protect consumer rights, and fulfill a society that protects feed safety production. responsibility.

(2) Standardize the order of the industry

In recent years, after experiencing sustained and rapid development, the feed industry has entered an era of meager profit with overcapacity, fierce market competition and rising costs. Taking China as an example, China clearly requires that the level of feed processing equipment be upgraded, and it will promote the upgrading of feed processing equipment with the orientation of large-scale, specialized, automated, high-efficiency, low-energy consumption, environmental protection, safety and health. Testing institutions conduct scientific and standardized testing of enterprise products, and provide true evaluation and testing results to enterprises. Based on this, enterprises continue to take measures to improve product technical performance and product quality, thereby improving the technical level of the industry, and the feed mixing industry Orderly and healthy development is of great significance.

2. Problems in performance testing of feed mixer

(1) Mixing uniformity detection

At present, the most commonly used method for detecting the uniformity of mixing is the methyl violet method. The detection steps of the mixing uniformity of the mixer are cumbersome, the results are affected by many factors, and it is difficult to control manually, and is sensitive to the detection results. In the detection process, it is the tracer methyl violet and the test material corn flour that interfere with the uniformity of the mixing but are difficult to control. The methyl violet test pollutes the tested materials, and the materials are difficult to reuse after the test is completed. Under the current trend of large-scale mixer equipment, the consumption of corn flour in the test test is increasing, and the materials are difficult to reuse after the test is completed , Resulting in waste.

①The tracer methyl violet. Affected by different batches of production materials, the methyl violet used will have a color difference. Since the ratio of methyl violet and the test material is fixed during testing, the color difference will affect the absorbance value of the final sample obtained. The change of the absorbance value will have an impact on the calculation result of the mixing uniformity, and ultimately result in the use of different batches of methyl violet to obtain different detection results. Methyl violet is easy to be damp and agglomerated during storage, especially in the wet season of the rainy season. Changes in weather and environment can easily affect its mixing performance during the detection process and the detection results.

②Physical properties of corn meal as test material. The physical properties of materials include particle size, moisture content and bulk density. The material used in the test mixer is corn flour, and the standard clearly stipulates that it requires the use of grade 2 corn to be crushed by a hammer mill with a mesh ≤ 1.5mm, with a moisture content of 12% to 14%. In actual adoption, testing units generally purchase corn flour directly on the market. Different corn flour processing factories and regions have different physical characteristics of corn flour; geographical, environmental, and seasonal changes will affect the physical characteristics of the material, which in turn will have a greater impact on the testing of the production equipment of each manufacturer. The difference between wet and dry climate will cause major changes in the moisture content of materials, which will ultimately affect the test results of the equipment.

Materials with high moisture content have poor fluidity and cannot achieve the best mixing effect of the equipment within the specified time, which will affect the final mixing uniformity test results. The particle size of the raw material will also affect the detection result. In theory, the closer the particle size of the material is to the particle size of the tracer, the lower the separation degree, the easier the two will be mixed, and the better the mixing effect. The methyl violet method was used to evaluate the relationship between feed particle size and mixing uniformity. It was found that the smaller the particle size of the mixture, the increase in the number of particles and the higher the mixing uniformity. However, if the corn flour is too fine and the environment is humid, it will cause the corn flour to absorb water easily and the moisture content will be too high, causing the corn flour to agglomerate or form agglomerates, and ultimately make it difficult to mix the corn flour evenly. Therefore, in addition to paying attention to the particle size of the material, the moisture content of the material must also be considered when testing.

③Testing process and instrument operation. The final instrument for mixing uniformity detection is a spectrophotometer, which is a sensitive instrument, and changes in the installation environment will significantly affect the detection results. The mixing uniformity detection operation involves many steps. The detection process includes test material selection, tracer preparation and placement, sampling, sample storage, sample preparation, absorbance detection and result calculation. Each step will affect the final detection result.

(2) Detection of natural residue rate

The natural residue rate of the mixer is another important indicator for assessing safe feed during feed production. After the mixing cycle of the mixer is over, the mixed materials must be completely discharged to prepare the next batch of materials to be mixed, and they must be drained as far as possible to avoid remaining in the equipment and causing pollution to future mixing. However, due to the equipment structure, manufacturing quality and characteristics of the mixture, the materials cannot be completely drained. The less residual rate of a mixer equipment, the better, it must reach a certain residual rate index before it is judged as a qualified product.

In addition, in addition to the quality of the equipment itself, the uncontrollable reasons for the test results are the test environment and the physical characteristics of the test materials. If it is tested in a hot and humid environment, the test material is easy to absorb moisture and is not easy to flow, and it is easy to adhere to the equipment parts and difficult to discharge (here mainly refers to the horizontal paddle mixer). In particular, the purchase of corn flour with finer particle size and larger starch content will affect its fluidity in the equipment after being damp, and it is very easy to adhere to the mixing shaft and blades and is not easy to discharge, resulting in its residue in the equipment The increase in rate affects the test results.

3. Effective measures to improve the detection accuracy of the feed mixer equipment

(1) Ensure complete equipment and suitable testing environment

Mixer testing, testing equipment must be a complete qualified product. Before testing, run dry to confirm that the machine is running normally and the discharge door can be opened and closed flexibly. Before testing, you should fully understand the climatic environment and on-site conditions of the testing site. If it is hot and humid, it will affect the physical properties of the material. Therefore, it is not suitable for testing. The testing site or testing date should be changed.

(2) Select test materials and tracers strictly and correctly

The moisture content and particle size of the materials and tracers used should be confirmed before testing, and their physical indicators must meet the testing requirements. When purchasing tracer methyl violet, you should buy qualified products from the same manufacturer and the same batch number, and strictly prepare methyl violet that meets the test requirements as the test tracer. If it does not meet the conditions of use, it should be changed or re-prepared until it fully meets the requirements.

(3) Operate the inspection process strictly in accordance with the prescribed procedures

•Accurately control the amount of corn flour to be tested according to the capacity of each model, and strictly match the test material corn flour and methyl violet according to the regulations, and check whether the tracer methyl violet is damp and agglomerated, and whether the fineness is satisfied Testing conditions; precisely control the mixing time and determine the best mixing time; the tracer must be placed in a standardized and reasonable manner, and after the end of the mixing cycle, samples are taken and bagged and sealed according to standard procedures. The sample should be tested as soon as possible after the sample is obtained, so as to avoid the separation of methyl violet and corn flour for too long storage time and affect the test result.

•When testing the mixing uniformity, the samples should be carefully prepared, and the samples should be weighed with an analytical balance to accurately add the amount of alcohol; after the alcohol is added, it must be fully stirred and fused according to the regulations to ensure that each sample completely precipitates methyl violet.

•Check the use status of the spectrophotometer, and ensure that the cuvette is cleaned before each sample is tested, and the wavelength of the light wave is always maintained at the set parameter position; when testing each sample, it must be zeroed with alcohol.

(4) Scientific and rigorous use of testing equipment

The spectrophotometer must be placed on a dry, temperature-appropriate, sturdy and straight working platform, without a source of vibrating magnetic field; the spectrophotometer must be calibrated regularly to ensure accuracy. The reaction of the spectrophotometer in the methyl violet detection method is very sensitive, and every operation link must be strict and accurate to reduce the error of the result. Use an analytical balance to verify the amount of alcohol dispensed by the pipette. The sample must be put into the spectrophotometer for testing immediately after the sample is obtained, so as to prevent the evaporation of alcohol from affecting the test results.

(5) Explore new testing techniques

The methyl violet detection method is an early development and use of detection mixing uniformity method. The disadvantage is that the detection steps are cumbersome, the operation requirements are high, the tracer and materials used in the detection are greatly affected by the climate environment and the production area, and the detection The result is interfered by various factors, and it is easy to fail; and methyl violet pollutes the test materials, the large-scale mixing equipment consumes a large amount of corn flour, and the waste is serious. Therefore, it is necessary to develop new detection methods, learn from the technology of the biomedical industry, and study the use of physical analysis techniques such as ion analysis and spectroscopy for testing to reduce detection steps, improve detection accuracy, and reduce raw material waste.

(6) Update detection technology and industry standards in time

Based on the test data accumulated in the long-term test, formulate test results standards under different test conditions, and allow different data range changes under different conditions; at the same time, expand the selection range of test materials, combining my country’s actual raw material conditions and physical properties , Formulate testing methods and improve industry standards.

(7) Enriching the testing power and establishing a testing system combined with scientific research

At present, most of China's feed mixer testing institutions are subordinate to research institutions, and scientific research forces should be used to develop safe and easy-to-operate testing instruments. At present, China advocates attaching importance to the independence and professionalism of testing agencies, and improving testing capabilities and standards, which is conducive to improving the fairness of testing and creating a level playing field.

(8) Establish an information sharing platform for feed mixer equipment manufacturers and users

The testing organization should maintain a cooperative communication system with equipment manufacturers and users, obtain usage information and production information in a timely manner, and seek more reasonable information and data during changes and development to improve equipment testing items and testing methods. The testing organization researches and summarizes scientific information from a large amount of testing data and provides it to the company, so that the company can understand more manufacturing data, master the latest technology, improve equipment production capacity and self-inspection methods, facilitate self-testing, and improve equipment manufacturing methods and technology .

4. Conclusion

The feed mixer is a very important feed equipment in the production process of a complete animal poultry livestock feed mill factory. Ensuring the accuracy of the equipment is an important way to improve the quality of feed mixing. Using methyl violet method to detect mixing uniformity is an early traditional method. There are many interference factors that are difficult to solve in actual use, and it is greatly affected by the geographical and climatic environment, which causes the uncertainty of the detection data to deviate from the true value. It is very important to improve detection accuracy and reduce interference on the current basis. At the same time, new detection methods should be developed and researched to make them easier to operate and reduce the number of detection links.