Field of the invention
Custard apple fruits are very delegate and pulp extraction is tedious process. Getting intact pulp and separating peels and seeds are being done manually and very un hygienic process. To overcome this problem an automatic machine for separating the peels, seeds and the intact pulp from custard apple fruits has been developed. It is very easy to use and operated with very less power and man power.
Background of the invention
Custard apple (Artnona squamosa Z,.), popularly known "sitaphal" in India is a most delicious and favourite fruit of the tropics. The International Centre for Under-utilized Crops identified major limiting factors in custard apple production at global level(Pinto et al. 2005). Custard apple is cultivated in more than 40,000 hectares in Andhra Pradesh, 35,000 hectares in Maharashtra, 20,000 hectares in Karnataka and 20,000 hectares in Rajasthan. Custard apple fruits very perishable and have a short post-harvest life therefore they require efficient storage techniques. Ripe fruits can be stored only for 1 -2 days without decay. It is observed that more than 75 per cent of fruits produced in tribal areas go waste after harvesting due to inefficient processing, storage techniques and short shelf life of fruits. Further, there is no organized marketing for custard apple in India. These factors lead to huge economic losses to the arid and tribal farmers. So the main objective of this invention is therefore design and development of a machine for scooping the pulp out of the custard apple fruits. Invention therefore provides a better machine for removing the pulp from the custard apple fruits.
Prior Art
Custard apple pulping related machineries neither available in the market nor is any reference in literature. No processed products of custard apple are available in the market. Therefore R&D for developing machineries for custard apple is required. Few literatures related with the pulp extraction and processing of custard apple has been given below
• Extraction of pulp is a major constraint in processing of custard apple fruits. Any mechanized pulping machineries for custard apple is almost nil. A simple technique for batch preparation of pulp is not available but manual pulp extraction has been tried which leads to browning in short time. Pulpers are available in the market suitable for extraction of juice/pulp from citrus fruits, mango, guava etc. There is no pulping machine exists that can be used to safely remove the pulp specifically from the custard apple (Chahal et al. 2008).

• Development of enzymatic browning within an hour of pulp extraction, bitterness, unpleasant repulsive off-flavour in the pulp on heating beyond 65°C and presence of gritty cells are problems encountered during processing of fruits. Therefore, it is imperative to develop new technologies so that products from this delicious fruit can be prepared and marketed (Chahal et al. 2008).
• Custard apple fruits are very perishable and have a very short post-harvest life; therefore they require efficient storage techniques (Coronel, 1994). Ripe fruits can be kept at room temperature for one day only (Salunkhe and Desai, 1984), while immature fruits stored below 15°C develop chilling injury, resulting in an unpleasant appearance (Tsay and Wu, 1989). Custard apple fruits can be stored at 15 to 20°C with low oxygen and ethylene tensions, combined with 10 per cent CO2 and 85 to 90 per cent RH (Broughton and Tan, 1979).
• The market available pulpers and finishers are only suitable for the fruits like mango, guava, apple etc. and not suitable for the custard apple fruits. If a end user want to use these pulpers, manually the fruit has to be cut and the pulp has to be scooped out since there is no mechanism available to separate peels from custard apple fruits and moreover the end user will get only the crushed and fine pulp not intact/ whole pulp.
Objects of the invention
i) Design and development of a completely new machine for separating the pulp, peels and seeds from custard apple fruits.
ii) Development of machine based on electronic controls to sequence the unit operations involved in the separation of pulp.
iii) Synchronization of the operations involved in the scooping the pulp for better recovery of pulp with least losses.
Summary of the invention
The custard apple pulper contains three mechanism viz. fruit cutting mechanism, fruit scooping mechanism and pulping mechanism. Fruit cutting and scooping mechanism are made with pneumatic actuators and electronic controls. This invention is fully automatic, assisted with pneumatic power and controlled electronically. The diagrams of the machine parts is given in annexure-1 and the photographs of developed custard apple scooping cum pulping machine is given in annexure-2

Brief description of drawings
Fig 1. Shows the custard apple pulper cutting and scooping mechanism
1. Rack & pinion mechanism with piston
2. Fruit holding rollers & cups
3. Pressing piston with pressing plate
4. Peel holding sieve
5. Pneumatic actuator for peel holding sieve
6. Scooping blade piston
Fig 2. Shows the isometric view of fruit holding roller with cups Fig 3 Shows the isometric view of fruit guiding plate
1. Cutting knife guide
2. Peel Stopper
Fig 4 Shows the isometric view of peel holding sieve
1. Fruit pushing hands
2. SSrods
3. Peel holding sieve frame
4. Bearing
Fig 5 Shows the isometric view of scooping blade Fig 6 Shows the isometric view of pulping mechanism
1. Feed Hopper
2. Pulping Chamber
3. Pulping Sieve
4. Seed Outlet
5. Motor
6. Fine Pulp Outlet
7. Intact Pulp Outlet
Fig 7 Shows the isometric view of pulping sieve Fig 8 Shows the isometric view of pulping beater
1. Beating plate
2. Brush
Detailed description of invention
The custard apple pulper contains three mechanism viz. fruit cutting mechanism, fruit scooping mechanism and pulping mechanism. Fruit cutting and scooping mechanism are

made with pneumatic actuators and electronic controls. This invention is fully automatic, assisted with pneumatic power and controlled electronically. Drawing of the machine parts is given in annexure-1 and the photographs of developed custard apple scooping cum pulping machine is given in annexure-2.
Fruit Cutting Mechanism
The fruit cutting mechanism is shown in fig.l. This part of machine contains two opposite rotating rollers with fruit holding cups which is shown in fig. 1 & 3. The fruit holding cups are arranged to hold the fruit without any damage and guide the fruit at the time of cutting as well as falling time on the guide plate. The fruit holding cups are rotated by pneumatic actuator attached with one side rotating rack and pinion mechanism. It helps to convert the reciprocal motion to rotational motion. For cutting, a small pneumatic actuator of one inch bore 0 and 4 inch displacement have been provided with cutting knife. The cutting knife was fixed with the actuator rod for reciprocal movement. The guide plate(fig. 5) which provided below the cutting knife gives support the knife at the same time it also helps the two halves of fruit to fall downwardly (cutting side facing down). At the bottom of the guide plate, peel stopper is provided to remove the peels from the peel holding sieve while return stroke. An electronic PCB circuit controls the reciprocal motion of the actuator through 24V DC solenoid valve. The photo of the cutting mechanism is given in Fig. 12
Fruit Scooping Mechanism
This part of machine has three parts viz. peel holding sieve, pressing and scooping mechanism. The photo of the scooping mechanism is given in Fig. 12
Peel Holding Sieve
Peel holding sieve (Fig.4) contains a SS sieve in a movable frame. The sieve was made with SS rod. In the front side of the sieve, the rods were bent about 1 inch towards down and fixed in a sieve platform in order to easy removal of peels (fig.4). The movable frame contains fruit pushing hand which helps to move the fruit halves from guide plate to the peel holding sieve. The whole frame is operated by a pneumatic actuator along with 24V DC solenoid valve. This actuator is controlled by the centralized electronic PCB controller. Peel collecting trays are attached with the movable frame. It collects the peels after removal of pulp by scooping mechanism.

Pressing Mechanism
Pressing mechanism (fig.l) contains a pressing plate attached with pneumatic actuator along with 24V DC solenoid valve. This actuator is also controlled by the centralized electronic PCB controller.
Scooping Mechanism
Scooping mechanism contains a scooping blade made with SS and a pneumatic actuator along with 24V DC solenoid valve. This actuator is also controlled by the centralized electronic PCB controller. The scooping blade (fig. 6) was made with curved cuts which are properly aligned with the peel holding sieve to reduce the pulp loss along with the peel.
Pulping Mechanism
This part of machine (fig.2) resembles the commercially available pulper but it contains a special slotted sieve and pulping shaft with beaters with specific inclination. The sieve is made with food grade SS sheet with straight slot (fig.7). The entire straight slot is parallel to the pulping shaft and made in spiral path towards the output. One side of the beater has pulping brush and the other side of the beater has beating rod (fig.8). The inclination of the pulping chamber is 27°-29°. The speed to get higher recovery of intact pulp is around 500-700rpm. The pulper has a pulp outlet and seed outlet separately. At the pulp output, a separator is provided which has a shaking arrangement to separate the fine pulp and intact pulp from output of the pulper. The photo of the pulping mechanism is given in Fig. 11
Working sequence of the machine
The pictorial representation of working principle is given in Fig. 13. The whole cutting and scooping machine works with the help of pneumatic power and controlled electronically. The fruits are fed in to the fruit holding cups. Then the PCB controller activates the fruit holding cups to rotate oppositely leads to cut the fruit into two halves and fall down on the fruit guiding plate. Besides this, the cutting knife is operated continuously by another actuator. Then the peel holding sieve is activated by actuator and moves forwardly. At the time forward movement, fruit pushing hand pushes the cut halves and allow it to fall on the peel holding sieve from guide plate. Then the pressing mechanism is activated and it presses the cut halves. While pressing, the pulp along with seeds comes out through peel holding sieve and the peel is retained on the top of the sieve. After pressing, the scooping mechanism

is activated and the scooping knife removes the pulp along with seed and it will be collected in pulp outlet. Then the peel holding sieve and frame move backwardly for next cycle. During backward movement of the frame, the peel stopper which is given below the fruit guide plate removes the peel from the peel holding sieve and collected separately in peels outlet. Time for single cycle is 3-5sec. these sequences of operations continue till the machine in operation. The separated pulp along with seed is fed into the pulping mechanism for separation of pulp and seed. From the pulping mechanism, the seeds are collected in separate outlet and the pulp is separated into two forms viz. fine and intact pulp by pulp separator. The photo of the complete machine is given in Fig. 10. Testing and evaluation results have been given in Annexure-3.
Statement of Invention
An automatic machine for separating pulp, seeds and peels from custard apple fruits comprising;
a. three main mechanisms viz. fruit cutting mechanism, fruit scooping
mechanism and pulping mechanism;
b. two opposite rotating fruit holding roller contains radially arranged fruit
holding cups (Fig.l&3) to hold the fruits without any damage and guide the
fruit while cutting as well as falling time on the guide plate (Fig.5);
c. a cutting knife with reciprocal motion on the top of the fruit guiding
plate(Fig.5) for cutting the fruit into two halves by means of continuous
reciprocal motion between the fruit holding roller (Fig.l);
d. a fruit guiding plate for guiding the fruits halves with cut surface facing down
after cutting, comprising of sets of curved steel plates(Fig. 5) positioned
between the rotating roller (Fig.l) so as to guide the movement of the cutting
knife;
e. pushing hands(Fig.4) for pushing the cut halves from fruit guide plate to peel
holding sieve(Fig.4) for pressing
f. a mechanism for pressing the cut half on the peel holding sieve(Fig.l) so as
to push out the soft pulp along with seeds out below the sieve and leave the
peel behind pressing plate and a peel holding sieve(Fig.4);
g. peel holding sieve made of rods helps to separate the pulp and seed from cut halves and to hold the peel

h. a scooping blade (Fig.6) below the peel holding sieve with reciprocal motion
to scoop out the pulp along with the seed, i. a peel stopper (Fig.5) below the fruit guide plate to remove the peels from
peel holding sieve after the scooping process, j. pulping mechanism (Fig.2) with specially designed pulping sieve(Fig.7) to
retain the shape of pulp and separator(Fig.2) for separating intact pulp and
fine pulp.
Example
A prototype machine (Fig.10) with the size of 120X120X140 cm was developed and evaluated for its performance. The capacity of the machine is around 120Kg/hr, and the efficiency of pulp recovery from fruits is around 94-96% with 6% pulp wastage along with peels. In that pulp recovery coarse / intact Pulp recovery is around 70-72% and fine pulp recovery is around 28-30%. The testing results of the prototype have been given in Annexure - 3.
Advantages
• Automatically separates the pulp, seeds and peels from the custard apple fruits
• This machine is fully automatic and easy to operate with less number of workers
• Very less power is needed to operate this machine since most of the operations are controlled by pneumatic power with 24 V DC electronic controllers.
• For food processing industries, this machine would help them to develop new products out of custard apple and get good market value.
• For consumers, by new and diversified product from custard apple, it is going to give them new palatability and nutritionally enriched product
• For farmers, it is going to help to get high economic value and slowly custard apple cultivation will become organized farming.
• The existing tribal farmers who already involving cultivation, they will get higher price for their raw material.
• So overall society would get good impact of this invention.

We claim
1. An automatic machine for separating pulp, seeds and peels from custard apple fruits comprising;
a. three main mechanisms viz. fruit cutting mechanism, fruit scooping
mechanism and pulping mechanism;
b. two opposite rotating fruit holding roller contains radially arranged
fruit holding cups (Fig.l&3) to hold the fruits without any damage and
guide the fruit while cutting as well as falling time on the guide plate
(Fig.5);
c. a cutting knife with reciprocal motion on the top of the fruit guiding
plate(Fig.5) for cutting the fruit into two halves by means of
continuous reciprocal motion between the fruit holding roller (Fig. 1);
d. a fruit guiding plate for guiding the fruits halves with cut surface
facing down after cutting, comprising of sets of curved steel plates(Fig.
5) positioned between the rotating roller (Fig.l) so as to guide the
movement of the cutting knife;
e. pushing hands(Fig.4) for pushing the cut halves from fruit guide plate
to peel holding sieve(Fig.4) for pressing;
f. a mechanism for pressing (Fig.l) the cut half on the peel holding sieve
so as to push out the soft pulp along with seeds out below the sieve and
leave the peel behind pressing plate and a peel holding sieve(Fig.4);
g. peel holding sieve made of rods helps to separate the pulp and seed
from cut halves and to hold the peel;
h. a scooping blade (Fig.6) below the peel holding sieve with reciprocal
motion to scoop out the pulp along with the seed; i. a peel stopper (Fig.5) below the fruit guide plate to remove the peels
from peel holding sieve after the scooping process; j. pulping mechanism (Fig.2) with specially designed pulping
sieve(Fig.7) to retain the shape of pulp and separator(Fig.2) for
separating intact pulp and fine pulp;
wherein all these assemblies are synchronized and interconnected electronically for continuous operations.

2. The process of separating the peels, seeds and intact pulp from custard apple fruits
comprising that
a. the fruits are cut into two halves and place invert (cut face down) on a sieve;
b. the cut halves are pressed over a sieve to push out the pulp & seeds below the
sieve;
c. the pushed out pulp along with the seeds are scooped out for pulping ;
d. the pulps along with the seeds are passed through a pulping mechanism to get
the intact pulp separately.
3. A machine as claimed in 1 wherein the diameter of the fruit holding cups (Fig.l&3) in
the opposite rotating rollers are in the range of 5 to 9 cm
4. A machine as claimed in 1 wherein, the cutting knife is provided with means of
reciprocal motion for the distance of 6 inch between the opposite rotating rollers to
perform the cutting operation
5. A machine as claimed in 1 wherein, peel holding sieve with frame (Fig.4) is made
with rods having the clearance in the range of 15-18mm between rods.
6. A machine as claimed in 1 wherein, a pressing plate (Fig.l) is provided with vertical actuator to press the cut fruit halves over peel holding sieve from top.
7. A machine as claimed in ] wherein, the pulping mechanism (Fig. 2) is made with pulp separator for separation of fine pulp and intact pulp.
8. A machine as claimed in 1 wherein, the pulping mechanism is made with special
straight slotted sieve (Fig.7) of size ranges from 30X5mm to 35X8mm in a spiral
path.
9. A machine as claimed in 1 wherein, the pulping chamber inclination is 25° to 29° and the speed of the pulping shaft is 500-700rpm.