Al-Diaa Group
Special Services in Engineering Fields
Friday, September 30, 2011
Al-Diaa Group: Citrus Packing House Processes
Citrus Packing House Processes
This unit is the previous step of washing and grading units. The main goal is to eliminate the damaged products and unwanted items from the line.
2. Sterilization, Washing, and Waxing Area: and it contains the following
Fruits follow the below path in the unit: foamed, brushed. Rinsed, and removal of water drops by latex sponges
Waxing not only increases the immunity of the fruit against fungus and diseases but also enhances the appearance and shines the product. Waxed products preserve their freshness much more longer than standard storage time.
There are two different types of wax applicators
- Mechanical Wax Applicators
Wax is sprayed by 4 moving nozzles. Correct nozzle selection is important for targeted dozes of wax.
- Electronical Wax Applicators
- Applied wax amount can be adjusted by controlling the speed by liter/hour.
- System reduces and optimizes the wax usage by stopping spraying when there is no fruit passing.
There are two drying tunnels in a line. One after the washing unit and other after the waxing unit. The main purpose of these tunnels is to dry out the water (first tunnel) and wax (second tunnel) on the fruit. While the product is rotated on aluminium tubes, hot air flow is applied on the product which allows the drying process.
Tunnel Length* | Function | |
Tunnel 1 (After Washing Unit) | 8-10 meters | Drying out the water on washed products |
Tunnel 2 (After Waxing Unit) | 10-12 meters | Drying out the wax on waxed products |
3. Selection, Grading, and Sizing:
This unit is the previous step of grading and sizing units. The main goal is to eliminate these disease to reach to the final product box
Types of Sizers:
- Electronic OPTICAL SYSTEM
- Proven mechanical system with gentle fruit handling capability!
- Adaptable to most existing conveying systems!
- The new high-speed ejection system ejects fruit with a softer/gentler action.
- HIGH PRECISION OPTICS: High-resolution state of the art optics with solid-state illumination and self-calibrating feature for improved sizing accuracy and long-term dependability.
- WINDOWS® PLATFORM: Microsoft Windows® platform for a friendlier operator interface and elaborate reporting capabilities
- MAXIMUM PRODUCTION: Maximum electronic speed for maximum production throughput.
- CUSTOM REPORTS: Custom reports using the universal Crystal Reports® data dictionary.
- Mechanical System
- Each Mechanical System consists of 4 or 6 lane modules up to a maximum of 4 per operating systems.
- weight carrier system features 4-point weighing for maximum accuracy and choice of 2.5” 3.75” and 5” spool pitch.
- The minimum system length is 27’ 10”, which has capability for up to 5 drop points.
- The system can be extended with 45”L. sections (up to 3 drop points) or with 90” L. sections (up to 5 drop points).
- Each module has a main drive motor.
- A.C. inverters and programmer unit for main drive motor.
- PLC panel assembly with warning alarm, emergency stop circuit and controls.
4. packing Area
a. Packing Tables : conveyors and tables to collect fruits from the outlets of the sizer to be packed manually by workers
Finally, here's a Video shwoing the grading process