Abstract
Sorting is one of the most critical factors in the marketing development of fruit and vegetable and should be performed without any damage to the product. This article reports results of the development and testing of a prototype of a low-cost mechanical spherical fruit sorter based on a belt-and-roller device built at the State University of Tabriz, Iran. The efficiency and damage effect of the prototype of the machine was tested at different sorting rates on apples (Red Delicious and Golden Delicious) and oranges. Performance tests indicated that the speed of the feeding belt and transporting belt as well as the spherical coefficient significantly affect the machine’s sizing performance and damages. The results of the test showed a 95.28% and 92.48% accuracy in sorting for Red Delicious and Golden Delicious, respectively, and 94.28% for orange. Furthermore, the machine sorts fruits without any significant damage.
Highlights
Agricultural machinery and postharvest technologies are crucial factors in farming [1,2]
The spherical coefficient calculated for the Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, and the Thomson navel was respectively 92, 93, and 95
According to results of the evaluation test on the Golden Delicious, the highest purity index and maximum efficiency is achieved by the prototype of the sorting machine when the feeding belt speed is set at 0.17 m/s, and the transport belt speed is set at 0.25 m/s
Summary
Agricultural machinery and postharvest technologies are crucial factors in farming [1,2]. Apples’ world production is estimated at about 75 million tons with China, European Union countries, and the United States as the largest producers. These countries in the last few years exported around 1 million tons of product [3]. Most of the fruit and products are sorted and graded before storage and preparation for presentation in the markets. These operations are one of the most significant costs in the fruit value chain, representing up to 40% of the costs in apple production [6]
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