Enhanced Control System for the Oil Extraction Screw Press

Oil extraction screw presses are widely used in agriculture and food industry. In most cases, they are not equipped with complicated control systems due to the necessity of reducing their price and providing sufficient reliability. Therefore, such presses cannot reach the best efficiency (productivity, performance), while processing different seeds and kernels. The present paper is focused on development of the enhanced control allowing for monitoring the operational parameters of the screw press and adjusting them in accordance with user-defined technologically prescribed ones. The research methodology contains a thorough analysis of the press design and operational peculiarities, and the development of functional (block), circuit, and breadboard diagrams of the control system. In order to verify the initially stated ideas of control strategies, the simulation models of the control systems are implemented in the TinkerCAD and SolidWorks software, and the experimental prototype of the screw press is correspondingly improved. The presented control system and press regulation strategies can be effectively implemented by engineers and technologists while developing new and enhancing existing designs of screw presses.