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¹ Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur West, Agricultural and Food Engineering Department Bengal, India, Pin 721 302
² Vice Chancellor, JIS University, Agarpara, Kolkata, West Bengal, India, Pin 700 109 Viewed : 8514 - Downloaded : 4172 Aeration experiments were conducted on original and modified submersible aerator to evaluate its performance and to optimize the aeration efficiency. The angular position of the propeller (α) and submergence depth of the propeller (d) were varied to study their effects on standard aeration efficiency (SAE). Pre-performance evaluation of the original design without having a provision to vary α and d was done and resulted in an SAE of 0.320 kg O2/ kWh. The aerator was modified to have a provision to change α and d of the aerator. To evaluate the optimum α, experiments were conducted at different α: 0°, 15°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 75°, keeping the rotational speed (N) = 2900 rpm and d = 450 mm as constants. The optimized α was 75°. In the same way to optimize d, experiments were conducted at different d: 300, 350, 400, 450, 500, 550, and 600 mm, keeping N = 2900 rpm and α = 75° as constants. The optimized d was 350 mm. Finally the optimized value of SAE of 0.616 kg O2/ kWh was achieved at α = 75° and d = 350 mm. The percentage increase in `efficiency after modification was found to be 92.50 %. Keywords : Submersible aerator, aeration efficiency, angular position of the propellers, submergence depth of the propeller