2.1.2. Operation
Java apple fruits were manually continuously fed into the Ushaped
rubber of the feeding belt by an operator in such a way
that the stem end of the fruit was parallel to the belt movement.
This provides a uniformly automatic feed of the fruits to
the sizing belt. However, the feeding machine capacity was
limited by the operator’s competence. The conveyed fruit left
the feeding belt and dropped vertically into the conical cloth
tube (Fig. 4). The conical cloth tube not only carried the fruit
vertically, but it also decelerated the fruit to minimise the
impact on the sizing belt. The appropriate alignment and
symmetry of the feeding belt, the cloth conical tube, and the
sizing belt improved the vertical orientation of the java apple
during its descent at the start of the sizing process.
The sizing belt carried the java apple fruits past 2 contact
points. The forward motion, divergence of the sizing belts and
the fruit weight caused the fruit to descend towards the lower
end or the aperture of the belts. Therefore, the two contact
points on the sizing belts and fruit surface were continuously.
Such phenomenon could cause skin rubbing on the fruit and
might give rise to abrasion. This was prevented by cushioning
on the surfaces of the sizing belts. When the fruit reached the
aperture that infinitesimally exceeded the fruit diameter, the
fruit lost contact with the belts and fell into the correct
receiving tray.
tray was cushioned with 20 mm rubber foam with two
adjustable partitions for the desired fruit size separation. The
sizing belts diverged and were inclined to the horizontal plane
at a degree. Each of the two sizing belts, Ammeraal type Nonex
EM 8/2 Blue FG were 100 mm wide and 2500 mm long. The
outer surface of the belts was lined with 4 mm latex foam.
Each belt was driven at the same velocity by a 220 V 50 Hz
electric motor operating at 1450 rpm with reducing gear and
a universal joint to facilitate the adjustment of belt angle.
A cloth conical tube was placed between the end of the
feeding belt and the beginning of the sizing belt to control the
vertical descent of the java apple fruits, to decelerate fruit
drop onto the sizing belt thereby reducing damage to the fruit.
The movement of the fruit on the sizing belt was below
horizontal thereby minimising vertical sliding. The conical
cloth tube was 120 mm long and made of yarn. It had
a 100 mm aperture diameter at the top and 60 mm aperture
diameter at the bottom. The feeding machine and the sizing
machine were placed in proximity to the cloth conical tube
and were well aligned