This machine is a multipurpose device capable of pulverizing and extracting oil/gel from various herbs.
The machine is a vertical free-standing cylindrical unit mounted on four legs. The raw material is fed from the top and the processed output can be collected at the bottom. The machine consists of an autoclave unit for sterilization, a boiler unit for boiling, the extractor unit for
This machine is a multipurpose device capable of pulverizing and extracting oil/gel from various herbs.
The machine is a vertical free-standing cylindrical unit mounted on four legs. The raw material is fed from the top and the processed output can be collected at the bottom. The machine consists of an autoclave unit for sterilization, a boiler unit for boiling, the extractor unit for
extracting juice or gel, a drive means for a source of power attached to the apparatus. The extractor unit comprises one frame, one condenser with flexible coolant, a set of blades connected o the frame and a grinding system. The main chamber is enclosed with an oil jacket to avoid direct heating of the herbs.
First the leaves of the Aloe vera are washed, then they are individually peeled and skin is removed. The peeled skin is kept separately for secondary processing to generate the essence and gel. The jelly portion inside is washed separately and put into the boiler. The motor is switched ON for running of grinder arranged inside boiler. The boiler is then heated with the help of burner/heater upto 50-60 deg. This is done for about 10 minutes to prepare the juice. Then the Aloe vera juice is extracted from the main outlet which is fitted with an inbuilt filter.
For the secondary process of extracting the essence, the removed skin along with some portion of the jelly is washed and put into the boiler along with equal amount of water and is stirred and boiled to over 100 deg. The steam produced during heating is condensed with the help of condenser for producing the essence. The essence collected is mixed with specific quantity of Gelatin powder to form the gel.
To produce juice from plants or fruits, the heating is not done and once material is fed into the shell, the grinder is turned ON and the pulverizing, crushing and mixing produces the juice. The grinding unit is utilized primarily when the processing of dry fruits or spices is required.
The temperature and pressure can be set manually using the gauges based on the raw material and desired product outcome. It can also be used for ancillary functions including boiling, sterilization (autoclaving), pulverizing, mixing of produce such as amla, saunf, mushroom and orange.
The unit can process 100 kilograms of Aloe vera in an hour. About 1.25 kilograms of Aloe vera leaves are converted to 1 liter of gel in the unit.
Innovativeness
The prior art describes machines wherein the Aloe vera gel is extracted by way of squeezing the Aloe vera leaves, generally between roller pair or other pressing arrangements. There are dedicated machines which do activities including washing, trimming, positioning, and peeling and squeezing of the leaves.
However, no single equipment could be found in prior art, which performed multipurpose activities such as extraction, pulverization, mixing and grinding the materials. This machine also acts as a boiler, sterilizer and cooker besides being used to extract the juice or essence from various plants or parts thereof. Interestingly, the machine also allows the operator to use heating as an option and not deploy it if only pulverizing and grinding is required for certain produce types. As compared to available options, this machine is cost effective, portable and suitable for on-farm processing. It can also be operated by an unskilled worker and be used to process a variety of herbs.
Applications and Dispersion
Being a versatile unit, the machine is used differently for various types of produce. The device effectively provides a method for sterilizing, boiling and extracting gel from within the fibrous husks of harvested Aloe vera leaves, flowers, herbs, fruits, vegetables, groundnut, spices and other materials.
