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Lime, an important cash crop, is a necessity in every kitchen. As a result, ready-made concentrated lime juice has become a business. During the production season, lime is sold at a very low price, signaling an opportunity for business owners to stock up. They would squeeze out the juice, freeze it at -20 degrees Celsius, and sell it as bottled lime juice when lime is out of season. This way, the juice can be kept up to six months, without losing original taste or smell.
Due to low machine capacity, however, only 10,000 limes can be extracted per hour. In addition, existing machines cannot extract lime fruits that are too big or whole-green limes, because of their tough outer skin. From these limitations, Dr. Kriengkrai Samsimuang, lecturer from the Department of Agricultural Machinery Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi, together with Tossaporn Yoochim, graduate student from the same department, and Winsyn Technology Co., Ltd. invented a higher-capacity machine for extracting lime juice.
In order to extract the juice, first wash fresh lime fruits and soak them in warm water for one minute, then leave them to dry; this technique will maximize the volume of the extracted juice, while preventing bitter taste. Then pour air-dried limes into a tray atop the machine, which can hold up to 30 kilograms of lime.
The next step is turn on the machine and the sloped tray will feed whole lime fruits into the part that halves them. This part is made up of two V-shaped cylinders, each equipped with high-quality, anti-rust blades, which can halve the fruits at 60 cycles per minute. Halved lime fruits will then fall down into the part that squeezes out the juice, at the speed of 60 cycles per minute continuously. The power source is a 0.746-Kwatt electrical motor, with 1hp, 220 Volts, 50 Hz.
The third step produces 100% juice, and leftover lime peels will be separated. This machine can squeeze up to 35,000 lime fruits per hour, or 1,300 kilograms per hour, which is three times more efficient than same-grade machines that exist in the market today. The external structure is made from 304 food-grade stainless steel, which is hygienic and easy to maintain with parts that are readily available within the country.
The cost of production for this machine is at 70,000 baht. Interested parties, please contact 082-798-8089 or 092-280-5002 or www.rmutt.ac.th
