ARECANUT CUTTER

Since, ancient time agriculture completely depended on human resource. But now-a-days as technology is growing farmer is opening himself to the modern technologies. From Tractors to Sprinklers, machines are entering agriculture farm. Now it is becoming a shared effort between human and machine. It made work easier and faster, involving less human effort. Rural areas which are the actual agricultural areas, now-a-days facing a serious problem, which is the heart of agriculture that is labour problem. This is making farmers to overdepend on machines. We have seen several machines in the field which requires only human monitoring. One of the major commercial crops of Karnataka is Arecanut. Here it is cultivated as Garden crop. There are two varieties of Arecanut: White Supari and Red Supari. White variety supari is prepared by harvesting fully ripe Arecanut and by Sun drying for 40 to 50 days. After drying the nut, the shell of the nut has to be removed by hand/machine. The nut derived from this dried fruit is called Arecanut/Supari/Betelnut. Red variety Supari is prepared by harvesting the tender (green) Arecanut and peeling the husk/dehusking. The nut derived by peeling the tender nut are processed as per the variety required (i.e., wholenut (idi/unde), two pieces (hasa/hasi/bette/chali, etc.,), 8pieces, etc) boiled in coloured water (Chogaru) and then Sun dried. The white variety i.e., Chali is mainly grown in South Canara, North Canara of Karnataka State. The red variety of Arecanut is mainly produced in Shimoga, Chikkamagalur, North Canara, Chitradurga and Tumkur Districts of Karnataka. Red variety Arecanuts are classified according to Areca ripening (growth). Tender areca is called Hasa/Hasi. Followed by Bette, Unde & Gotu, which is the fully ripened (grown) stage of Areca. Processing of Red variety Supari involves many stages. One important stage is dehusking. Since, it involves lot of labour work, farmers are facing problem in this main stage itself. To overcome this problem dehusking machines are introduced. Many dehusking machines are available in markets which are intended to help farmers in a way. But these machines only give wholenut (idi/unde) without cutting. In market there is a demand for cut nuts like Hasa, Bette, etc., for cutting Arecanut, it again requires labour. So, there is a need for Arecanut cutting machine. This (My) proposed system is intend to cut Arecanut into 2 pieces. There are some properties of Areca which we can utilize while designing, which includes: Moisture Content of Arecanut Arecas can be classified on the basis of moisture content in it. Tender Areca (Hasa) possesses more moisture content followed by Bette, Unde & Gotu stages, which posses less moisture content.

Softness & Hardness of Arecanut Tender (Hasa) is softer/smoother followed by Bette, Unde & Gotu stage, which is hard. This is dependent on moisture content. More is the moisture content in Arecanut, softer it is.

So, by detecting moisture content/Hardness of Arecanut we can classify them & cut as our requirements. For example, if we want Bette, we need to cut Arecanut which possesses moderate moisture, into 2 pieces.

Block Diagram:
Dehusked Arecas / Arecanut

Existing Dehusking Machine

Moisture content measurement of Arecanut & Segregation

Wholenut (Unde)

Arecanut cutting machine Hasa/ Hasi Bette

Measurement of moisture content can be done in one of the following way: Using Humidity sensors Using Stress & Strain measuring sensors Using Image Processing Technique

Lot of Humidity sensors are available. We need to check the suitable sensor for our system. Some of them are: capacitive humidity sensors (HCH-1000 Series), low voltage humidity sensors (HIH 5030/5031), etc., for example: Wood moisture measurement sensors can be used. Strain gauge sensors are available in many types including pressure sensors, load cells, torque sensors, position sensors, etc. Image Processing is a field where we can find better and faster result. Measuring moisture content of fruits and woods are available, using CT scan and some other technique. We can incorporate it for Arecanut moisture measurement.

Wholenut is segregated from any of the above mentioned process. Arecanut cutting needs mechanical means. Arecanut cutter can be driven by driver circuit, which accepts command from segregation unit to cut smoother arecanut. Output expected is Arecanut cut into 2 pieces, either Hasa or Bette.

References:
[1] www.campco.org [2] www.sensorland.com