Study of the strength of granules of instant drinks in a drum vibrating unit

In conditions of high employment, the question of proper and balanced nutrition is becoming more and more acute, since it is not always possible to get all the substances necessary for the body with food. In this regard, the development of functional instantiated products is an urgent task. The paper investigates the new design of a drum vibrating unit, namely, determining the strength of the obtained granules depending on the design and operating parameters of the process. The object of research was instantiated jelly in the form of granules with dimensions of 1–3 mm. Another task was to determine the effect of mechanical activation of potato starch on the strength of the resulting granules. From the analysis of the obtained data, it can be concluded that the greatest influence on the strength of the granules is exerted by the dynamic component, namely, the frequency and amplitude of vibrations, and the rotation frequency of the kneading unit does not have a significant impact, but directly affects the time when the product is in the drum unit. Analysis of the effects of mechanical activation of potato starch showed that granules obtained based on native potato starch have less static crushing strength. This is because during the mechanical activation of starch agglomeration centres are formed, which ultimately leads to an increase in strength.