Development and Evaluation of Pummelo (Citrus grandis L.) Fruit Sorter

Abstract

Pummelo is popular in the market worldwide; however, sorting is necessary to meet the market's demands. This study was conducted to design, fabricate, and evaluate the performance of a Pummelo sorting machine. Three conveyor belt speeds, each replicated three times, were used in the actual field test, resulting in a total of nine experiments. Complete Randomized Design (CRD) in one-way ANOVA was used to differentiate significant differences among treatment means. Belt speeds for treatment tests were 7-8, 11-12, and 27-28 meters per minute. Further tests of significant differences among means of treatment were done using Duncan’s Multiple Range Test at a 5% level of significance. Results showed that the sorter's highest sorting capacity was achieved at 507 pieces per hour, using a conveyor belt speed of 27-28 meters per minute. The highest mean sorting efficiency was recorded at 96.97% at a conveyor belt speed of 11-12 m/min.  The lowest mechanical damage, with a mean of 0.48%, occurred at a conveyor belt speed of 7-8 m/min. The manual sorting had an average capacity of 477 pieces per hour and a mean efficiency of 72.78%.  A pummelo sorter operating at a conveyor belt speed of 27-28 meters per minute, with a sorting capacity of 507 fruits per hour, had a total estimated sorting output of 973,440 fruits per year. It had an operating cost of Php0.088 per piece with a custom rate of Php0.118 per fruit. The sorter had to sort 384,536 pieces of Pummelo to attain the break-even cost of operation.