DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF A LOW COST GRADER FOR ROUND FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
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Date
2016
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Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University
Abstract
Grading of agricultural produce especially the fruits and vegetables has become a perquisite of trading across borders. In India mostly fruit growers grade the fruits manually. Human operations may be inconsistent, less efficient and time consuming and costly during shortage of labour in peak seasons. Hence, a low cost grader suitable for round fruits and vegetables based on the principle of centrifugal force and gravitational force was developed. The grader was evaluated for lemon, sweet orange and onion. The physical dimensions, geometrical mean diameter (GMD) and sphericity for lemon, sweet orange and onion were measured. The average major, intermediate and minor diameters for lemon were 37.02, 35.51 and 34.33 mm respectively. The geometric mean diameter of lemon varied from 24.43 - 46.47 mm with an average value of 35.60 mm. The average major, intermediate and minor diameters for sweet orange were 52.39, 51.24 and 49.16 mm respectively. The geometric mean diameter of sweet orange varied from 39.03 – 65.78 mm with an average value of 50.90 mm. The average major, intermediate and minor diameters for onion were 56.61, 53.75 and 47.79 mm respectively. The geometric mean diameter varied from 34.06 – 72.28 mm with an average value of 52.52 mm. Average sphericity of lemon, sweet orange and onion were 0.99, 0.97 and 0.93 respectively. The developed grader was tested and evaluated at different feed rates. The grader was also evaluated at different speeds of the rotary disc like 10, 30, 50 and 70 rpm. Efficiency and capacity of the grader were optimized with respect to feed rate, disc speed and surface material of disc. Mild steel sheet was proved to be the best surface material for lemon and sweet orange grading. Plastic sheet was proved to be the best surface material for onion grading. Optimum speed of the rotary disc during highest separation efficiencies was 30 rpm for all fruits and vegetables tested. Overall efficiency of grader for lemon, sweet orange and onion were 86%, 75% and 83% respectively. Maximum grading efficiency was obtained for lemon because of its more sphericity.
Keywords: Rotary disc, Sphericity, Geometric mean diameter, Surface material, Feed rate, Mild steel, Plastic, Cloth, Separation efficiency and Grading efficiency.
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D5353
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