DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF PALMYRA FRUIT FIBRE SEPARATING MECHINE

Abstract

This research is concerned with the design and fabrication of a prototype Palmyra fruit fibre separating machine to minimize the time and labor requirements in the extraction of Palmyra fruit fibre. The prototype consists of the main frame, separating unit which diameter of separating rotor was 400 mm, a power transmission unit and a 1 hp electric motor was used as a prime mover. In the operation, the ripe palmyra fruit without pulp were fed manually into feeding chute at the front of the machine to the separating unit. Then the fibre of  fruit were cut by cutting blade of separating unit, and fell through the chute in bottom of the machine. According to the experimental results, the optimal performance was achieved with the machine was operated at 400 rpm separating rotor speed. The percentage of separation was found to be 94.3±1.5% at working capacity of 4.8±0.3 kg/hour where the energy consumption was 0.68 kW-hour. Furthermore, an engineering economic analysis showed that, at an annual usage rate of 1,440 hours, the machine cost was on average THB 9 per kilogram, the payback period was 6 months and the breakeven point was 164 hours per year.