DEVELOPMENT OF CONTINUOUS FEED EQUIPMENT FOR ALOEVERA WHOLE GEL EXTRACTION

Continuous feed aloevera whole gel extraction equipment comprises of six major components, (a) Outer frame to hold functional components (b) Conveyor belt (c) Drive mechanism for gel extraction system (d) Whole gel extraction mechanism (e) Collection trays for extracted gel and rinds (f) Motor. Leaf base and sharp spines of matured aloevera leaves are removed before feeding into equipment. Combination action of sliding bearing (4 nos) mechanism and pressure springs (4 nos) helps to adjust gap between pressure roller assembly and flatten curvature of aloevera leaves. Two high carbon steel blades one each, just above bottom set of rollers and just below top set of rollers, simultaneous peels off both top and bottom rind in a single pass. To obtain whole gel recovery of more than 98.13 ± 0.52 % and residual gel percentage of below1.87 ±0.27%, speed of the rollers was optimized at 100 rpm for three levels of leaves thickness (<25 mm, 25–30 mm and >30 mm).  Capacity of equipment is 215.00 ±9.08 kg/h.  Percentage saving in cost and time of operation was 55.56 and 70 %, respectively. Quality parameters of whole aloevera gel were on par with preferred hand filleting method of gel extraction. Equipment is suitable to be adopted as a rural technology specially in the aloevera catchment area

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Not AvailableContinuous feed Aloe vera whole gel extraction equipment comprises of six major components, (a) Outer frame to hold functional components; (b) Conveyor belt; (c) Drive mechanism for gel extraction system; (d) Whole gel extraction mechanism; (e) Collection trays for extracted gel and rinds; (f) Motor. Leaf base and sharp spines of matured Aloe vera leaves are removed before feeding into equipment. Combination action of sliding bearing (4 numbers) mechanism and pressure springs (4 numbers) helps to adjust gap between pressure roller assembly and flatten curvature of Aloe vera leaves. Two high carbon steel blades one each, just above bottom set of rollers and just below top set of rollers, simultaneous peels off both top and bottom rind in a single pass. To obtain whole gel recovery of more than 98.13 ± 0.52 % and residual gel percentage of below 1.87 ± 0.27%, speed of the rollers was optimized at 100 rpm for three levels of leaves thickness (30 mm). Capacity of equipment is 215.00 ± 9.08 kg/h. Percentage saving in cost and time of operation is 55.56 and 70 %, respectively. Quality parameters of whole Aloe vera gel were at par with preferred hand filleting method of gel extraction. Equipment is suitable to be adopted as a rural technology specially in the Aloe vera catchment area.ICA

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Not AvailableIndia is a major turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) growing country and Tamil Nadu is one among the major turmeric growingstates. Of the many problems identified in turmeric cultivation, harvesting is a major operation which needs to bemechanized. A power tiller (9 kW) mounted harvester with chisel type single digger blade for digging single row of turmeric crop with a rubber conveyor with vibrator to convey the dug turmeric rhizome was evaluated at optimized crop and operational parameters. The rake angle (20°) of the digging blade and conveying speed (4.5 km h-1) of the rubber type conveyer were optimized by experimentation. The mechanical harvester performed better with rhizome harvesting efficiency of 98 per cent at soil moisture of 15.5 per cent (d.b) with damage of 2 per cent with an effective field capacity of 0.08 ha h-1. The conventional method of manual digging had the average harvesting efficiency of 90.5 per cent and the damage caused to rhizome was 7.1 per cent. The saving in cost was 59.82 per cent by harvesting with mechanical harvester over manual harvesting. The breakeven point was 16 per cent of annual utility and the payback period was 0.5 year for the power tiller mounted turmeric harvester. The better harvesting efficiency by mechanical harvesting would enable the farmer to realize additional 6-7 per cent of the yield with less damage to the produce.ICA

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Not AvailableMechanical properties and ascorbic acid content of aonla (Emblica Officinalis Gaertn) on heat treatment during processing were studied. The hardness and toughness of aonla varieties ranged from 14-15.8 N and 104 to 123 N/mm, respectively. The surface hardness and toughness of the aonla fruits reduced with heat treatment either by means of boiling in water or by microwave heating. The time required for segmentation by boiling was ten minutes while by microwave it was 210 s, 150 s and 90 s at 300 W, 450 W and 600 W, respectively. These segments could be used for aonla preserves and candy. Microwave heat treatment helped in retention of ascorbic acid content in aonla to an extent of 77.45 per cent to 83.68 per cent depending upon the variety, microwave dosage and time for the segmentation process. By boiling in hot water for a period 10 minutes, the loss of ascorbic acid was as high as 74.5 to 76.5 per cent. Based on the type of end product required, the nature of heating method for segmentation could be adopted.ICA

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Not AvailableAloe vera is a very important crop extensively used for food, medicinal and cosmetic industry. The gel obtained from aloevera is a very important product. Studies were carried to understand the relation between textural properties like penetration and cutting force with respect to gel distribution in aloevera leaves. The gel distribution percentage was 24.11 per cent, 27.30 per cent and 38.40 per cent, respectively in top, middle and bottom regions of aloevera plant, indicating that leaves from bottom region of the plant only needs to be harvested for increased gel extraction. The study using the textural analyzer revealed that during the process of removal of the spikes from the aloevera leaves, the cutting of outer spikes in vertical direction required only 9 to 11 per cent of cutting force when compared to the horizontal direction, which would be helpful in developing a suitable cutting tool for mechanization. Low temperature storage of 5 ± 1°C for 24 h made the aloe vera leaves harder requiring greater penetration and cutting forcesICA

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Not AvailableCurry leaf (Murraya Koenigii) is used as a leafy spice in Indian cuisine for its characteristic flavour and is reported to have a lot of medicinal values. It is one of the prime ingre dients in masala and pickle indus tries in raw/dried or powdered form. These products have large demand in both domestic and international markets. The primary requirement to obtain the curry leaves is to strip the leaflets from the stem. At pres ent this operation is being carried out manually in unhygienic condi tions. To reduce the drudgery of the human labour and to increase the output capacity, a power oper ated curry leaf stripper has been developed to strip out the leaflets from the branch. The equipment comprises four major components viz., power source, pulling mecha nism, stripping mechanism and collecting tray. With this device, an operator can safely strip 36-44 kg of curry leaflets per hour. The saving in labour and cost over conventional method is to the tune of 80 percent and 60 percent, respectively. An In dian patent no 1146/MUM/2008 has been assigned for the equipment and the equipment has been com mercializedNot Availabl

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Not AvailableMultiplier onion (Onion aggrega tum) is consumed in large quantity in southern provinces of India. These are used in large quantities in the catering and pickling industries, creating a need for peeling equip ment. Multiplier onion peeling is an essential step in producing many of the onion products such as dehy drated onions, onion powder, onion flavoring, onion salt, onion rings, and pickled and canned onions, which is a very tedious process. A batch type peeling machine suit able for farm-level operation was designed and tested for multiplier onion. The equipment consisted of a cast aluminum drum seated over a rotating disc. Inner surface of the drum and top surface of the lower disc are covered with corrugated rubber sheet which aids in the peel ing process. The multiplier onion needs to have the ends cut with a sharp knife and soaked in clean water for a period of 10 min to as sist the loosening of peel followed by air drying for 1-2 min to remove the surface water. Major operational parameters: speed of operation and abrasive surface on the drum were optimized for peeling efficiency, damage to the bulb and other performance parameters. The capacity of the peeler was about 50-60 kg/h. The peeling efficiency was about 92 percent with unpeeled and damaged percentage being 6 and 2 percent, respectively. The cost economics study revealed that the equipment had a saving in labour and cost to a tune of about 68 and 69 percent, respectively, with a payback period of 1.40 years. The equipment can be adopted by small and medium multiplier onion processing industries.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableThe aim of storage of minimal processed product is to increase the shelf life and thereby extend the period of availability of minimally processed produce. The silicone membrane makes use of the ability of polymer to permit selective passage of gases at different rates according to their physical and chemical properties. Here, the product stored maintains its own atmosphere by the combined effects of respiration process of the commodity and the diffusion rate through the membrane. A study was under taken to enhance the shelf life of minimally processed multiplier onion with silicone membrane. The respiration activity was recorded at a temperature of 30±2 °C (RH0 60 %) and 5±1 °C (RH090 %). The respiration was found to be 23.4, 15.6, 10 mg CO2kg−1 h−1 at 5±1 °C and 140, 110, 60 mg CO2kg−1 h−1 at 30±2° for the peeled, sliced and diced multiplier onion, respectively. The respiration rate for the fresh multiplier onion was recorded to be 5, 10 mg CO2kg−1 h−1 at 5±1 °C and 30±1 ° C, respectively. Based on the shelf life studies and on the sensory evaluation, it was found that only the peeled multiplier onion could be stored. The sliced and diced multiplier onion did not have the required shelf life. The shelf life of the multiplier onion in the peel form could be increased from 4–5 days to 14 days by using the combined effect of silicone membrane (6 cm2/kg) and low temperature (5±1 °C).ICA

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Not AvailableSugarcane bud chip planting is the latest tech nique of sugarcane planting, wherein the bud along with aportion of the nodal region is chipped off and planted inprotray with FYM soil and sand. Studies on mechanisation of the planting of settlings from sugarcane buds raised in portrays were carried out at Central Institute of Agricul tural Engineering—Regional Centre, Coimbatore and Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore and a tractor mounted two row mechanical planter for settlings raised from sugarcane bud chips was developed. It consists of mainframe which can be attached to standard three-point hitch arrangement of a 35 hp tractor. The metering mech anism, operator’s seat, furrow openers, soil openers and furrow closers are mounted on the main frame with nec essary supports. The optimum speed of operation was standardized as 1.4 km/h by experimentation where the missing percentage was 2.33 %. The field capacity of the equipment was 0.15 ha/h. The biometric parameters viz., diameter of the cane, cane height, single cane weight, juice content and yield of the mechanically planted sugarcane settlings were on par with the manually planted sugarcane settlings. The juice quality of sugarcane from mechanically planted settling in terms of brix, CCS, sucrose and purity was at par with sugarcane from manual planting of settlings at the time of harvest. Cost economic analysis of planting with mechanical planter showed 40 and 85 %, saving in cost and labour, respectively over manual bud chip settling plantingICA

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Not AvailableA back pack model of power operated oil palm harvesting equipment based on the concept was developed and preliminary evaluation was carried out at various oil palm plantations at different height (Fig. 3). It was observed that that the device can be operated up to a height of 4-5 m comfortably. The total weight of the back pack model of harvesting equipment is about 12-13 kgs.ICA