Development and Performance of Power-Operated Garlic Bulb Breaker

Abstract

A power-operated garlic bulb breaker to separate cloves from whole-garlic-bulbs was developed, its operational parameters optimized and its performance evaluated. The garlic bulb breaker consisted of a feeding chute, two-stage padded rubber rollers, a blower, outlets for cloves and skins, a main frame, power and power transmission system. The garlic bulb breaker was evaluated using three types of rubber padding material viz., plain type, button type and corrugated type, with four levels of clearance between rubber rollers viz., 15, 18, 21 and 24mm, three levels of peripheral speed, viz., 259.2, 302.4 and 345.6 m/min. The machine displayed performance parameters in terms of breaking efficiency at 96%, per cent clumps of cloves 1.22, per cent clove damage 1.7, per cent clove loss 1.08, and bulb-breaking capacity of 780kg/h using corrugated padding material fitted at 18mm clearance and 259.4m/min peripheral speed. Operating cost of the machine was Rs. 0.06/kg against Rs. 2.25/kg incurred with manual clove separation of cloves.