Study on the performance of equivalent electrical substitution circuit of the stem wall of plant materials

Abstract

Stem materials of plant origin are among the research targets of electrotechnology as a science. The electric current according to the known definition represents the “working organ” of electrotechnology, for example, in such processes as electroosmotic dehydration of forage grasses, delignification of straw, pre-sowing treatment of seeds, etc. The developed electrical equivalent circuit of the stem wall of plant materials consists of “forward” (in the direction of current flow from the parenchyma to the epidermis) and “reverse” (in the direction of current flow from the epidermis to the parenchyma) branches and takes into account the presence of non-ideal semiconductor effect regarding current and moisture transfer in the stem wall. The research goal is to simplify the synthesized equivalent electrical substitution circuit of the stem wall of plant materials and to study its operation modes. In order to simplify the analysis of the obtained substitution circuit operation, its transformation is performed. Simplification is realized separately for the “forward” and “reverse” branches of the substitution circuit. It is found that the “forward” and “reverse” currents through the stem wall are discontinuous functions of time which amplitudes depend on the parameters of the elements of the substitution scheme of the stem wall. Consequently, the current in the unbranched part of the substitution scheme which is the cumulative current in the “forward” and “reverse” branches, is periodic non-sinusoidal taking into account the presence of a non-ideal valve effect of the stem wall, and cannot have a periodic continuation of the current function with a period of 2 π at a time interval other than (0.2 π). Therefore, in order to describe the current function through the stem wall at any time, it is reasonable to determine the substitution wall parameters and describe the current through the stem wall using a harmonic series.