Vol. 12, Special Issue 10 (2023)

Author(s):
Kanhaiya Lal, RK Naik and Geeta Patel

Abstract:
The study aimed to determine the physical, mechanical, and biometric properties of onion bulbs to facilitate the design of machinery for post-harvest operations. The engineering properties of the onion crop were measured for 50 randomly selected onions. The variety of onions grown in India needs a comprehensive database of physical, frictional, and textural features for better and more accurate designing of post harvest operations, not withstanding advancements in onion processing and storage. The engineering properties of the crop are important in determining of gap between feeding grooves, cutting force required, capacity of shorter, size of shorter etc. The mean value of polar diameter, equatorial diameter, transverse diameter, mass and D_gm, arithmetic mean diameter were found 45.50±2.23 mm, 50.87±3.08 mm, 35.16±2.03 mm, 69.22±8.78 g 43.22±0.85 mm and 43.84±2.29 mm respectively. While the mean value of surface area, frontal surface area and cross sectional area were 6064.66±80.27 mm², 1868±193.12 mm², 1559.88±160.34 mm² respectively. The mean value of sphericity, shape index, aspect ratio, bulk density, true density, porosity and moisture content were found 0.86±0.02, 1.27±0.05 (oval shape), 0.29±0.049, 568.33±2.96,kg/m³, 933.69±49.39 kg/m³, 39.29±2.49% and 85.34±0.89% respectively. The mean value of mechanical properties like angle of repose, and coefficient of static friction for different surface like mild steel, galvanized steel, stainless steel and plastic surface were found 43.16⁰, 0.36±0.02, 0.32±0.018, 0.23±0.014 and 0.42±0.014 respectively. Cutting force was in the range of 97.13-143.13 N for 200 mm/min speed and 43.42-165.46N for 300 mm/min speed.