Development and performance evaluation of garlic bulb breaker cum peeler

Abstract

Garlic is a bulbous spice which is used as an important ingredient in pickles, curries, meat preparations etc. It has Its medicinal applications as gastric stimulant, increase the digestion and absorption process of food, in curing skin diseases etc. The bulb breaking and peeling process of garlic manually is a time consuming, labour intensive and causes drudgery. Therefore, a simple, power operated garlic bulb breaker cum peeling machine which is easy to operate, maintain and economical was fabricated. The bulb breaking unit separates individual cloves and the peeling unit removes the peel from the cloves effectively. The machine consists of mainly a feed hopper, a roller and a concave mechanism, a motor, a peeling unit and a compressor. The roller is driven by a 0.25 HP single phase motor having 230 V and 1275 rpm. The bulb breaking unit consists of a roller and concave mechanism both lined with a cushioning of rubber rods having 15 mm thickness in order to avoid clove damage. The roller is rotating in anti-clockwise direction. The peeling unit consists of a round bottom stainless steel vessel of 180 mm diameter and 160 mm height which is covered at the top with a conically bent SS sheet with 170 mm height and 50 mm top opening. A bend pipe having 50 mm diameter is welded on this top opening for peel outlet. A lid is provided at the bottom of this vessel to collect the peeled cloves. An inlet for compressed air of pressure 4-6 Kg/cm2 is provided at the bottom using a pipe connector. The garlic bulb breaker cum peeler was fabricated by combining these two unit which has a capacity of 13.14 Kg/hr with less material loss and high efficiency (91.74%) which is simple, compact, and women-friendly in use.