(54(2):113-122)A Study on Mume Cracking Machine

為突破脆梅浸漬加工過程中費時費工之原料青梅壓裂作業瓶頸，以降低生產成本、嘉惠農民而研發脆梅壓裂機。一粒青梅於壓裂過程中之彈性係數可高達12,340kg/m，壓裂所需力量最高值達50.9kg，平均值亦有39.6kg，本機設計可一次壓裂5粒青梅，故壓裂機構必需產生極大力量。製作脆梅時先將六、七分熟之青梅混合粗鹽後放入滾筒中攪拌約10min，處理後果肉已稍微軟化且表皮上之纖毛已經脫去，此時再進行壓裂作業。本機經5次作業性能試驗結果顯示，脆梅壓裂機平均每小時作業量為140kg，約為人工作業量的10倍，而壓裂之果實外觀受到壓擠板間隙之影響頗大，為顧及脆梅之品質，建議於作業前先將梅子依粒徑大小分級，以求得較佳的壓裂效果並提升脆梅之品質。The bottleneck operation in the pickling process of mume fruit is to make a rift on the fruit. The main goal of the study is to develop a machine for mume fruit cracking before pickling with sugar for making crispy mume. The development of the machine will also lower the processing cost hence increasing the revenue of the crispy mume manufacturer as well as the growers. Experimental results showed that the elastic constant of a fruit during compression test could be as high as 12,340 kg/m. The maximum force needed to crack a mume was 50.9 kg and the average force of the 15 mume fruits was 39.6 kg with a standard deviation of 6.2 kg. The machine was designed to crack 5 fruits in a stroke; therefore, the mechanism must be designed to generate the required force. We have developed a prototype machine for mume cracking purpose. The first process in making pickled mume before cracking is to mix the fresh mume with the crude salt in a wood or metal container and then revolve for about 10 minutes. This process will remove the cilia on the skin surface of the mume fruit and also make the mume a little bit softer. The average capacity of the cracking machine in five runs is about 140 kg/hr which is about 10 times larger than that of a manual operation. The cracking quality was determined by the gap between the two parallel plates in which the mume was depressed. To gain better quality in cracking, it is suggested that the mume fruits should be sorted according to their size