Development of a Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) Seed Extractor

摘要

Engineering properties such as physical and textural properties of the matured watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) fruit and its seeds were measured in order to design and develop the watermelon seed extractor. The developed seed extractor consisted of following systems for (ⅰ) watermelon cutting, (ⅱ) watermelon seed extraction, (ⅲ) seed separation and (ⅳ) power transmission. The extractor was evaluated with three types of scrapers namely stainless steel, wooden and nylon; two cutting planes that of transverse and longitudinal planes and three rotational speeds of 50, 100 and 150 rpm. The best combination was observed to be for transverse cutting with nylon scraper at a speed of 100 rpm. The best performance for capacity, extraction efficiency, seed loss, seed damage, germination percentage and vigour index were found to be 1.98 kg of seeds/h, 99.49%, 0.19%, 0.26%, 97.04% and 3,284, respectively.