CIAE Power Operated Expanding Flap Type Fruit Grader
The grader has the provision to separate fruits into five grades by adjusting flap spacing between 30 to 145 mm. The main components of the fruit grader are grading unit, horizontal belt conveyor, and elevator feeding unit. The grading unit consists of 19 mm pitch hollow pin chain and matching sprockets, steel flaps and rollers, wheel track, a collection tray, power source, reduction gear unit, power transmission system and fruit collection tray etc. The overall grading efficiency was found to be 93-96 % for apple, sweet lemon, and orange fruits. The capacity of the grader was 5 t/h at grading conveyor speed of 7 m/minute and there was no damage to the fruits while grading. The cost of the grader is Rs. 1 lakh and only 1 hp motor have been used to operate the grader. The developed grader has been installed at M/S Patidar Musli Farm and Research Centre, Jotpur, M.P., India. The grader was run for the grading of citrus fruit on the farm for two seasons. Approximately 1000 tons of fruit was graded in the grader. One person can grade 200 kg/day (25kg/h) of fruit. The developed grader has the capacity of 5000kg/h. This can save manifold time and cost of grading with efficient grading. The breakeven point is achieved by grading 500 tons of fruits which is quite simple. This fruit grader reduces the energy and cost by 45-50% and 60-70%, respectively with the efficiency of 95% in comparable to other available grader having grading capacity of 5t/h and cost of Rs. 1 lakh only. The advantages of this fruit grader are a high level of versatility, high capacity, low energy consumption, low cost, minimal handling and tumbling of the fruit and there is no damage to the fruit while grading. This grader has been designed to meet the requirements of large industries, installation at Mandi and orchard owner growing various fruits in the same field at different seasons because of high capacity and efficiency. The grading operation adds the value of the fruits by making it uniform size lot and fetch a high price in the market giving profit to the produces/processors.