Manufacturing and performance evaluation of automatic orange grading prototype / [electronic resource].

Includes references.

Manual grading offruits is a time and labours consuming process and
results in inability ofproper grading. In addition. the l/1anual grading is
not yet economically visible at the processing scale and with large
quantities of fruits. Therefore. this research therefore developed and
manufactured an automated grading IJrototype l"'lich is able to
incorporate flexibility lind separate selected orange . However. at the
same time move ohjec·ts IIlItoll/aticaJly t(} The defined places by tht!
regulation ofthe integrateellnad ('ells sensors. microcontroller and relc~l'
switch circuit (USc) to d,reet il mlue range of weight and to drive the
grading ~at('s and requirl!d mOl'ements. The prololJpe consists offeeding
unit and grading unit as two mojor components. Both components are
working together smoolh(l' ami in sequence to transfer and sort the
received orange fruits hy implementing different mechanical and
electronic paris through proper frames, transmission and control
systems. Fcedinp, unit· main components were; electric motor.
transmission .\ystems, feeding hopper. conveyer chain and spoons.
Grading unit consists offrame. connecting belt. weight sensing area.
gates' open-close control units and distribution gates. The automatic
grading prototype was tested and evaluated at Rice Mechanization
Center (RMC). Agricultural Mechanization Research Institute. Ministry
of Agriculture (Meet £1 Dyba. Kafrelsheikh governorate) during the
periodfrom 2014 to 2016. The performance evaluation was conducted at
two distances between spoons on conveyer chain (182 and 364 mm). four
different surfaces ofthe belt that connect feeding unit to weight sensing
: area (wood, cotton, linen and leather), grading with and without infrared
control unit and three sensing time (3, 6 and 9 sec) for Valencia orange fruits. Physical and mechanical properties were measured and recorded
for processed fruits. The results showed that the grading prototype is
quite successful for grading Valencia orange. The optimum operational
conditions for maximi=ing the grading efficiency were J82 mm distance
between spoons, 3 sec for sensing the weight and using infrared unit to
control the feeding rate. Technical evaluation also showed that the
maximum productivity value ofthe grading prototype wa" 0.47 Mglh for
Valencia orange with the optimum operational parameters. The cost of
materials and fabrications of such prototype was 10.000 LE and total
operational cost of the prototype was 26 LEI 17, while, optimum
production cost were 55 LE/Mg for Valencia orange with the optimum
operational parameters.

Summary in Arabic.