Claims:1. An improved apparatus and method for separating and processing components of plant stalks having cylindrical shape, characterised by separating various components of the stalk rather than obtaining the mixture components of crushed plant stalks, the said apparatus comprising a cane billeting mechanism, a milling and rind-pith separating station and a conventional biogas plant for utilizing the separated pith, wherein the:
a) Cane billeting mechanism comprises an eccentric (1), blades (2) and a conveyor (4) for carrying the billets, a feeder conveyor made up of a V-belt (8) on which pusher bolts (9) are mounted ,a flexible sheet (11) provided to keep the billets pushed on the surfaces of V-trough (5), a plain rotating circular knife provided for longitudinally slitting cane billets (6).
b) A milling station comprising a pith cutter roller (12) and feeder roller (13), a rind stopper (16), rind bin (15) and pith bin (17) to separately collect rind and pith.
c) A horizontal piston press (refer Fig. 5) comprising a horizontal piston (19) for pressing the pith in a pith barrel (19A), the said pith barrel (19A) having slits (19B) for the juice (20) to exit and accumulate in a container (20 A).
2. The improved apparatus for separating components of plant stalks as claimed in claim (1) wherein the self-centering V-trough (5) has side faces (7) for resting the cane billets (6), below the slot formed by side surfaces (7), a V-belt (8) running parallel to the slot without touching the V-trough (5), pusher bolts (9) mounted on a V-belt (8) to push the cane billets (6) onto the rotating knife (10).
3. The improved apparatus for separating components of plant stalks as claimed in claims (1) and (2) wherein the rind stopper (16) consists of thin vertical bars spaced at interval which is less than the width of the rind.

4. The improved apparatus for separating components of plant stalks as claimed in claims (1) to (3) wherein a conventional bio-gas plant is provided having a cylindrical drum (18) in which wet rind pieces and inoculum water are deposited, the said biogas plant provided with a gas collecting holder (18 A).
5. The improved apparatus for separating components of plant stalks as claimed in claims (1) to (3) wherein pith cutting roller is provided having a hub (21) having plurality of slots (22) machined in it, segments between alternate slots being removed axially to form vacant radial segments between the blades (2), in the said vacant radial segments wedges (24) being bolted to the hub (21) by bolts (25) and secured by nut (24 A). One of the slots at (24 B) shows the axial removal on cylinder to accommodate wedges (24)
6. A method for processing of wet rind comprising a bio-gas plant for holding sugar-containing rind and microbial inoculums in solution with water.
7. An alternative process of processing wet rind consisting of vessel containing wet rind and solution of a benign organism like lactobacillus spp. to consume sugar in rind.
8. A method of de-juicing separated pith consisting of a static press having horizontal piston and a barrel containing pith, the barrel having thin slits.
, Description:

Title:
An Improved Apparatus And Method For Separating and processing Components of Plant Stalks

Field of Invention:
The present invention relates to an improved apparatus for separating and processing components of plant stalks having cylindrical shape. The apparatus provided by the present invention make the processed stalks more suitable for downstream processing and produce more value-added products.

Background of Invention:
The present invention for an improved apparatus and method for separating and processing components of plant stock has been described using sugarcanes as an example, however the example of sugarcane is not and should not be construed to limit its scope in any manner. The invention is useful for any stalk similar to the sugarcane and wherein its components when separated are utilized for various applications.

In the conventional process for using sugarcane for various applications e.g. production of sugar, whole sugarcane is cut into small pieces, milled in multi roll crushers with repeated addition of water. While doing so, both outer tough rind and soft inner pith get mixed.
In the prior art various patents have been filed all over the world for apparatus to separate the outer tough rind from inner soft pith.

This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for separating the components of plant stalks have been specified in Table (1) hereinbelow.

Table (1)
Sr. No. US Patent no. Date Applicant/Inventors
1. 3,424,612 28.01.1969 Robert B. Miller
2. 3,424,611 28.01.1969 Robert B. Miller
3. 3,567,510 02.03.1971 Sydney Edward Tilby et. al.
4. 4,312,677 26.01.1982 Sydney Edward Tilby et. al.
5. 632789 12.09.1899 Noah T. Remy
6. 623753 25.04.1899 James F. Winchell

1) Referring to Miller’s patent no. 3 424 612, flexible arm assembly mechanism (82) and (88) in Fig. 1 & 5 is employed for centering of cane on the splitter assembly.

2) In Miller’s patent no. 3 424 611, Fig. 7 shows assembly (85) to hold the stalk (80) in properly aligned position and rollers (82) and (84) as a drive

3) Referring to US Patent no. 3, 567, 510 – Tilby et.al.
a) In Fig. 3 shows a fixed splitting blade (56) for longitudinally splitting sugarcane in two halves.
b) The apparatus of this patent has two milling stations each for one half of sugarcane.

4) US Patent No. 4,312,677 issued to Tilby et. al. teaches on page 12 and Fig. 11 to 14 the milling i.e. pith cutting roller having complicated arrangement of wedges, V-grooves, serrations and gauge rings. (to adjust the diameter after re-sharpening).

5) The REMY’s patent no. 632789 dated 12.09.1899 describes
a) A serrated circular saw cutter (12) . is employed to slit the sugarcane in two pieces. The serrated saw creates messy sawdust-like particles and loss of useful sugar in the said dust.
b) Grooved rubber feed rollers (2) and (3) of Fig (3) are employed to push the cane onto the serrated saw.
c) Fig. 7 and 8mention complicated arrangements of guide plates (3), lugs (32), spring (33), spreaders (21), arms (14) etc. as centering mechanism.
6) Referring to Winchell patent no. 623753 dated 25.04.1899
Provides for stalk centering mechanism as described in Fig.(6) and Fig. (7) which is very complicated and difficult for operation
Referring to all the above mentioned patents there is a need for providing an improved integrated approach for processing and separation of various components of plant stalks for facilitating the separated parts for further utility.

The present invention aims to provide such an apparatus that contains many novel features of construction, disposition and arrangement of different parts in the improved apparatus whereby important advantages are achieved and the apparatus is made simpler, cheaper, efficient and more convenient for use than those provided by of US Patent 3,424,612 , US Patent no. 3,567,511, US Patent no. 3,567,510, US Patent 4,312,677, US patent 632789 and US Patent 623753. The present invention therefore attempts to overcome the abovementioned drawbacks of the prior art.

The object of the invention is to provide an Improved Apparatus and Method For Separating and processing) Components of Plant Stalks which is simpler, inexpensive and efficient in separating the soft inner portion from the hard outer part of plant stalks for their further applications as exemplified by sugarcane.

Summary of Invention
The present invention provides an improved apparatus and method for separating and processing components of plant stalks. The apparatus has a cane billet feeding and billet splitting station, milling and rind pith separating station. A feeder conveyor is made up of a V-belt mounted with pusher bolts. A flexible sheet is provided to keep the billets pushed on the surfaces of V-trough. A plain rotating circular knife is provided for longitudinally slitting cane billets. The apparatus is provided with a milling station consisting of pith cutter roller and feeder roller, a rind stopper, rind bin and pith bin to separately collect rind and pith. A self-centering V-trough is provided with side faces on which cane billets are resting. Below the slot formed by side surfaces a V-belt runs parallel to the slot without touching the V-trough. Pusher bolts are mounted on a V-belt to push the cane billets (6) onto the rotating knife. A rind stopper is provided consisting of thin vertical bars spaced at interval which is less than the width of the rind. A conventional bio-gas plant is provided having a cylindrical drum in which wet rind pieces and inoculum water are deposited. A gas collecting holder collects the bio-gas produced. A horizontal piston press is provided consisting a piston, a pith barrel having slits. The piston presses the pith in barrel and the extracted juice from the pith comes out of the slits which is collected in a container. A pith cutting roller is provided with a hub having plurality of slots. Small segments between alternate slots are removed axially for a small length forming vacant radial segments between the blades. In these vacant segments, wedges are bolted to the hub secured by a nut. One of the slots shows the axial removal on cylinder to accommodate wedges.

The invention is described with reference to the drawings accompanying this specification which are illustrative only and should not be construed to limit the scope of the present invention in any manner.

The following Table (2) details the legends and their description in the drawings.
Table (2)
Referral No. Description
1 Eccentric Mechanism
2 Blades
3 Sugarcane
4 Conveyor
5 V-trough
6 Cane billets
7 V-trough side surfaces
8 V-belt
9 Pusher bolts
10 Rotating circular knife
11 Flexible Sheet
12 Pith cutting roller
13 Feeder Roller
14 Particulate pith
15 Rind bin
16 Rind stopper
17 Pith bin
18 Cylindrical drum
18(A) Gas collecting holder
19 Piston of static press
19(A) Press barrel
19(B) Slits on the barrel
20 Juice
20(A) Juice container
21 Pith cutter hub
22 Blade Slots
23 Cutter blades
24 Wedge
24(A) Nut
24(B) Slot without blades, wedges
25 Bolt
26 Cutting face
27 Relief angle

Brief description of the drawings:
Fig. 1 Schematic elevation view of apparatus of the present invention.
Fig. 2 Schematic view of V-belt with pusher bolt and sugarcane resting on V-trough
Fig. 3 Rind stopper
Fig. 4 Schematic view of bio-gas plant.
Fig. 5 Schematic view of static press.
Fig. 6 Three dimensional view of pith cutter roller.
Fig. 7 Schematic end view of pith cutter roller
Fig. 8 Enlarged view of a section of pith cutter roller
Fig. 9 Exaggerated schematic of cutter blade tip

Detailed Description of the drawings
Referring to Fig (1) to (8),present invention provides an improved apparatus and method for separating and processing components of plant stalks, characterised by separating various components of the stalk rather than obtaining the mixed components of crushed plant stalks, the said apparatus comprising a cane billeting mechanism, a milling and rind-pith separating station and a conventional biogas plant for desugaring the separated rind, wherein the:
a) Cane billeting mechanism comprises an eccentric (1), blades (2) and a conveyor (4) for carrying the billets, a feeder conveyor made up of a V-belt (8) on which pusher bolts (9) are mounted ,a flexible sheet (11) provided to keep the billets pushed on the surfaces of V-trough (5), a plain rotating circular knife provided for longitudinally slitting cane billets (6).

b) A milling station comprising a pith cutter roller (12) and feeder roller (13), a rind stopper (16), rind bin (15) and pith bin (17) to separately collect rind and pith.

c) A horizontal piston press (refer Fig. 5) comprising a horizontal piston (19) for pressing the pith in a pith barrel (19A), the said pith barrel (19A) having slits (19B) for the juice (20) to exit and accumulate in a container (20 A).

In one of the embodiments of the present invention (Refer Fig 2), the self-centering V-trough (5) has side faces (7) for resting the cane billets (6), Below the slot formed by side surfaces (7), a V-belt (8) running parallel to the slot without touching the V-trough (5), pusher bolts (9) mounted on a V-belt (8) to push the cane billets (6) on to the rotating knife (10).

In one of the embodiments of the present invention (refer figure (3), the rind stopper (16) consists of thin vertical bars spaced at interval which is less than the width of the rind.

In still another embodiment the (Refer to Fig. 4), a conventional bio-gas plant is provided having a cylindrical drum (18) in which wet rind pieces and inoculum water are deposited the said biogas plant provided with a gas collecting holder (18A).

In another embodiment the pith cutting roller (refer Fig. 6, 7 and 8), is provided having a hub (21) having plurality of slots (22) machined in it, segments between alternate slots having removed axially to form vacant radial segments between the blades (2), the said vacant radial segments wedges (24) being bolted to the hub (21) by bolts (25) and secured by nut (24 A). One of the slots at (24 B) shows the axial removal on cylinder to accommodate wedges (24)

Referring to Fig 9, exaggerated view of relief angle of the tip of cutter blade (23) is shown.

Working of the Invention :
The improved apparatus consists of -

Cane billeting apparatus (Fig. 1)

It consists of a bar having equally spaced multiple blades (2) and driven by eccentric mechanism (1). The eccentric mechanism (1) reciprocates blades (2) and cuts a full length sugarcane (3) into billets. The billets are conveyed to billet feeder by conveyor (4).

Billet Feeder
It consists of a Conveyor mechanism for feeding billets to next splitting station : A smooth surfaced V-shaped long trough (5) is provided having a lengthwise slot at bottom (Fig. 2). The cane billets (6) rest on inner side surfaces (7) of the V-trough (5).An inexpensive simple conveyor design is proposed : On a commercially available inexpensive V-belt (8), pusher bolts (9) are screwed from bottom through top of the belt (8). The Pusher bolts (9), which protrude out of top surface of belt, have rounded smooth top. The pusher bolts (9)are spaced on the belt (8) at intervals slightly more than billet length. The billets rest on the sides (7) of the V-trough (5) while the V-belt (8) runs parallel to and below the slot. The pusher bolts(9) protrude through the slot. By this arrangement the pusher bolts(9) push the billets on V-trough (5) without the billets touching the surface of belt (8).

The smooth surfaced V-trough(5) and the pusher bolts (9) can be alternatively constructed by a row of idlers arranged in V-formation or any other similar arrangement.

Any other continuous belt can also be used in place of V-belt.

Billet Splitting station :
At the end of V-trough (5) a rotating circular knife (10) is mounted having its plane exactly at the center line of the slot in the V-trough (5). Thus the V-trough (5) acts as a billet centering device irrespective of the diameter of the cane.

Protruding pusher bolts (9) push the billets onto the rotating circular knife (10) splitting them longitudinally in two halves which are almost equal due to self-centering V-trough. Cane billets, passing onto the rotating circular knife (10) at high speed, are kept firmly close to the V-trough surfaces (7) by a flexible sheet (11)which keep the billet pushed on V-trough (5). The sheet (11) can be made of any flexible material or a spring loaded metallic sheet or any similar arrangement which keeps the cane pushed down on the V-trough (5).

The rotating circular knife (10) , in addition to splitting, propels the billets towards next (milling) station.

Rotating knife (10) can be alternatively replaced by a commercially available band saw or a reciprocating saw.

Milling and rind-pith separating Station :- The improved milling station consists of two horizontal rollers, one being the pith cutting roller (12) rotating at high speed while the other being feeder roller (13) counter-rotating at slower speed. The separated light particulate pith (14) gets tangentially thrown off at large distance while the rind (15) being heavier gets thrown off at smaller distance. To avoid possible mixing of rind and pith, a rind stopper is proposed (Fig. 3). It consists of a plurality of vertical thin bars (16) spaced apart on a support such that the particulate pith (14) flies through the gaps between bars(16) while the wide rind hits the bars (16) and falls below in bin (15).

This way, there is a near-total separation of rind and pith, both of which are collected separately for further processing.

Processing of Wet rind : Separated rind is a valuable commodity for making paper or composite boards. However, the separated wet rind contains a small part of sugar in the cane. The wet sweet rind immediately catches bacterial and fungal infection. This phenomenon disfigures the surface as well as drastically reduces strength and keeping quality of rind.

For this purpose, we propose a novel microbiological approach. Rind coming out of the separator is collected in a bin(15) in Fig. 1 and later subjected to conventional bio-methanation (Fig. 4) which is a microbiological process.

Microbes in biogas plant consume the sugar in rind and generate bio-gas which is collected for use. The bio-gas plant consists of a drum (18) filled with rind and inoculum water. A gas collecting holder 18(A) collects bio-gas.

Alternatively, instead of biogas plant, the rind can be de-sugared by dipping in a solution of lactobacillus culture or other benign organism which can consume sugar.

Processing of pith
Pith from milling station is particulate. Such particulate mass is difficult to de-juice in conventional roller crushers used in conventional sugar industry.
Hence, in a novel approach, a horizontal static press is employed to de-juice the pith. (Fig. 5)

This static pressing of pith in barrel 19(A) by piston (19) expels the juice (20) through slits 19(B). These thin slits19(B) also considerably reduce the amount of fine particles in juice.

Pith cutting roller construction
Referring to Figure 1, the pith cutting & feeding rollers (12) and (13) are mounted on two parallel shafts.

Referring to Fig. 7 and 8 the cutting face (26) of blade (23) protrudes about 3 to 5 mm from the cylindrical surface of the roller, the said cutting face (26) has a relief angle (27) of 2 to 5 degrees, preferably 3 degrees, for smooth cutting.

The gap between two rollers (12) and (13) determines the thickness of separated rind. After many re-sharpening of blades the above mentioned gap widens and thickness of rind increases. A novel construction of the milling (pith cutting) roller is proposed. (Fig. 6) The roller has a hub (21) having axially cut multiple slots (22) to accommodate blades (23). The blades (23) and the slots (22) are trapezoidal in shape. One side of the slot (22) is at right angle to its base while the other side is at an angle. The blade (23) has a similar configuration such that the blade (23) is inserted axially into the slot (22) as a slide fit. On both side faces of the roller about two centimeters of material on alternate pair of slots is removed as shown in Fig. 6where a pair of slots(24 B) are shown without blades and wedges .
As shown in Fig. 8 wedges (24) are provided to press the blades (23) on sides of hub (21). When bolt (25) is tightened in nut (24 A), the wedge presses its sides on the blades. There is a small gap below the wedge (24). To remove the wedge (24) a screw driver or the like can be inserted in the gap between the wedge and the hub.
In a novel feature of the present invention when the sharp cutting edge of cutting face (26) gets blunted after use, re-sharpening is done on cutting face (26) and not on top surface as in prior art.

Fig. (9) shows exaggerated view of relief angle of the tip of cutter blade (23), B is the cutting tip and BC is the cutting face. When tip B gets blunt, the surface BC is sharpened to B1-C1. The vertical distance B-B2 between B and B1 shows the reduction in radius of cutting roller after one re-sharpening.

When relief angle is 3 degrees and sharpening depth (C-C1) is, say 0.2 mm, the reduction in radius (B-B2) is 0.2 X tan 3 degrees i.e., 0.01 mm. This is very minimal and no re-setting of gap between rollers is necessary even after many re-sharpening.

Advantages of the Present invention over other previous patents :

1. Cane billeting apparatus
The eccentric mechanism having equally spaced blades yields billets of equal length except end-pieces. The equal length facilitates feeding to next station.

2. Billet feeder
The `V’ shaped trough having slot at the bottom gives many advantages. Firstly, it acts as a smooth channel for feeding billets to next station. Most importantly it acts as a simplified centering mechanism. Using a standard commercially available V-belt as a conveyor considerably reduces the cost. As the cane does not rest on conveyor belt, wear and tear of the belt surface is eliminated.

3. Billet splitting station
In place of a rotating saw or a fixed knife of the prior art using a rotating circular knife greatly simplifies billet splitting and requires much less power.
In place of rollers etc. of the prior art using flexible sheet simplifies feeding a stable cane billet to the rotating circular knife.
4. Milling and rind pith separation
Horizontally placed rollers assist in better separation of rind and pith, further aided by simple and inexpensive rind stopper.
5. Processing of wet rind
Using microbiological method to de-sugar the rind imparts great advantages. Firstly, the tough rind fibers are not mechanically damaged facilitating downstream conversion to composites or paper pulp. When bio-gas route is used for microbiological processing of rind, the rind sugar and partly hemicelluloses get converted to bio-gas giving economic advantage.

6. Processing of pith
In the prior art either rotating rollers or a screw press is mainly used for de-juicing of pith. Using a static press with thin slits on the pith barrel gives higher extraction of juice containing very small quantity of pith. After juice extraction “unbeaten” pith remains which has excellent absorption capacity.

7. Pith cutting roller construction
Simplified pith cutting roller construction and the re-sharpening method greatly helps in reducing frequency of cumbersome gap adjustment procedures.