Thesis

Browse

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1

Restricted
Design and development of aloe vera leaf gel extraction machine
(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2016) Gajbhiye, Ankit; Gupta, S. K.
The aloe vera gel extraction machine consists of auto adjustable grip rollers, mouth piece or front edge cutter, scrapping blades and a driving unit. The grip rollers were provided with inclined trapezoidal teeth to increase the friction between aloe vera leaf and rollers. The design parameters of the machine were dimensions and speed of grip rollers, spring tension for mouth piece and clearance of scrapping blades. The jagged edges were cut as the leaf passes through mouth piece and grip roller pushes it against scrapping blades which removes upper and lower rind. The machine was tested for its performance at different roller speed. The crude gel recovery was maximum at 59.7% was found at the speed of 75 rpm and greater than 20 mm leaf thickness. The minimum residual gel percentage i.e. 5.19% was found at 75 rpm and greater than 20 mm thickness. The highest gel expulsion efficiency i.e. 94.8% was obtained at 60 rpm with leaf having thickness greater than 20 mm. It was inferred that for getting maximum crude gel recovery, minimum residual gel percentage, highest expulsion efficiency, the leaves should be fed at 75 rpm roller speed for greater than 20 mm leaf thickness.