Design, development, and evaluation of aloe vera leaf gel expulsion machine

Abstract

The aloe vera gel expulsion machine consists of auto adjustable grip rollers, mouth piece or front edge cutter, scrapping blades, and a driving unit. The grip rollers were provided with inclined trapezoidal teeth to increase the friction between aloe vera leaf and rollers. The design parameters of the machine were the speed along with the dimensions of grip rollers, spring tension for mouth piece, and clearance of scrapping blades. The jagged edges were cut as the leaf passed through mouth piece and grip roller pushed it against scrapping blades which removed the upper and lower rind. The machine was tested for its performance at different roller speed and leaf thickness. It was inferred that for getting maximum crude gel recovery, minimum residual gel percentage, and highest expulsion efficiency, the leaves should be fed at 75 rpm roller speed for leaf thickness more than 20 mm. Practical applications Aloe vera gel has been utilized for therapeutic properties including wound healing, constipation, thermal injury healing, ulcers, diabetes, anti‐inflammation, and immunomodulation. Nowadays it is used for commercial applications such as sun creams, soaps, shampoos, face wash, and lotions. It is also used for preparation of juices, yoghurt, flavored milk, health drinks, and beverages. In crushing method of gel expulsion the ingression of other chemical compounds deteriorates the gel quality. The machine was designed to avoid crushing and reduce manual contact for obtaining good quality gel from aloe vera leaves.

Manufacturing and Performance Evaluation of Aloe Vera Gel Extraction Machine

“…At 60rpm roller speed, the gel recovery rates were 52.4, 65.9, and 61.7%, respectively in the order of less than 15mm, from 15 to 20mm, and greater than 20mm. These results are compatible with those (Chandegara, 2012) and (Gajbhiye et al, 2017).…”

“…Based on the above analysis, the extracting roller designed with a diameter of 150 mm, is compatible with (Gajbhiye et al, 2017). The roller length was based on maximum leaf width, it was taken as 300mm to prevent blocking.…”

“…This may be because since the blades require less processing time when extracting at higher speeds higher than 60rpm, which results in a higher residual gel content and therefore reduced discharge. The expulsion efficiency was decreased at a lower speed because since the leaf was split having corrugation made by a corrugated expulsion roller, resulting in low expulsion efficiency (Chandegara, 2012) and (Gajbhiye et al, 2017). The decrease in gel discharge efficiency may be due to the higher pulp content in the leaf, which produced a higher residual gel in the leaf exudate.…”

“…It has been found that for maximum gel recovery, minimum residual gel content, maximum expulsion and output efficiency, the leaves should be split in a splitter and the gel discharging should be done at 75rpm roller speed for 25-30mm leaf thickness. (Gajbhiye et al, 2017) designed a gel separation machine that includes an automatically adjusted gripping roller, a mouthpiece or front edge cutter, a scraper and a drive unit. The picking roller is equipped with inclined trapezoidal teeth to increase the friction between the leaf and roller.…”

A Design and Fabrication of Aloe Vera Peeling and Dicing Machine

“…The dicing efficiency is determined by the ratio of amount of demand size DD to total amount DT: µ = DD/DT from products of 100 aloe vera leaves and the average value is reported (Gajbhiye et al, 2017;Chandegara and Varshney, 2014).…”