(48(2):156-168)Studies on the Centrifugal Separation of Royal Jelly

蜂王漿是用來餵飼和培育蜂王，亦可供人類食用，被視為保健食品，其營養比蜂蜜高很多。惟其生產過程相當繁瑣，生產效率相當低，故生產成本偏高。目前本省採漿作業都以人工為之，尚無機械可資利用。因此，自行研製蜂王漿採收機加速機械化採漿，以降低生產成本，提高蜂王漿品質，並增加養蜂之收益，實為當務之急。本研究歷經一年，分別完成離心式蜂王漿採收雛型機之研製，並完成其性能之測試。據試驗結果顯示：該機使用1/2 PS、110V交流馬達，並以網目0.608mm幼蟲攔截網（線徑0.45mm，24目／吋）與迴轉數1750rpm作業，其採漿後幼蟲分離攔截網上附著之蜂王漿殘留量佔總重之0.73%，王杯內蜂王漿之殘留量為總重之1.59 %，幼蟲損傷佔總幼蟲數之1.45 %；使用此採收機在不計算採收後刮漿時間之情況下，9.42分鐘可完成51組王台條之採漿作業全程，與相同數量王台條之人工採漿作業需時74.8分相較，其省工效果極為顯著。With more nutrient contents than honey, royal jelly is regarded as an especially healthy food. Separation of royal jelly from larvae is a difficult, labor intensive process. However, production of royal jelly in Taiwan still relies completely on time-consuming, manual production. The objective of this study is to develop a machine for harvesting royal jelly. During the last year, a prototype ‘centrifugator’ powered by an alternative motor (1/2 PS and 110V) was manufactured and tested for effectiveness in separating royal jelly. The best results were obtained with the centrifugator operating at 1750 rpm and equipped with a larva-separating screen having a mesh size of 0.608 mm. In related experiments, the percentage of royal jelly residue on screen, royal jelly residue in holders, and damaged larvae are 0.73%, 1.59% and 1.45%, respectively. The harvesting operation of royal jelly by using this centrifugator takes 9.42 minutes for one run (51 holder strips) neglecting time required for the last process of scraping-off the harvested royal jelly. When compared with the operating time of the manual harvesting operation (74.8 minutes) for the same workload, the developed centrifugator reduced the required labor tremendously