WO2021054819A1

WO2021054819A1 - Rotating blade for natural fiber extraction machine

Info

Publication number: WO2021054819A1
Application number: PCT/MY2020/050087
Authority: WO
Inventors: Mohamed Thariq BIN HAMEED SULTAN; Ahmad Hamdan BIN ARIFFIN; Adi Azriff BIN BASRI; Mohd Edyazuan BIN AZNI; Muhammad Imran BIN NAJEEB
Original assignee: Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)
Current assignee: Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)
Priority date: 2019-09-19
Filing date: 2020-09-17
Publication date: 2021-03-25
Anticipated expiration: 2022-03-19
Also published as: MY205110A

Abstract

An apparatus (10) to extract fibre from an agricultural product comprising: a first roller (1) having pre-determined number of blades extending from its body; and a second roller (2), having pre-determined number of blades extending from its body. The first roller (1) and the second roller (2) are rotatably arranged with respect to each other on a support (3) in such a way that during the rotation, one end of the agricultural product is fed in between the first roller (1) and the second roller (2), the blades pulls the agricultural product inwardly and simultaneously extracts resin from the agricultural product.

Description

ROTATING BLADE FOR NATURAL FIBER EXTRACTION MACHINE

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a natural fiber extraction machine and more particularly, to a pair of rollers arranged with the natural fiber extraction machine.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Natural fibers have become primary alternative source for renewable resource as it is biodegradable and can be used in various applications clothing materials, storage, building, straps and nets. The natural fiber can be extracted from plenty of agricultural product and by-product such as like kenaf, jute, sisal, pineapple leaf, banana stem and others.

Conventionally, the natural fiber is extracted either by a manual extraction process or a mechanical extraction process by a decorticator machine. The manual extraction process is done by immersion. In this process, micro-organisms play a vital role to separate or remove gummy substance which surrounds the leaves. This process is done by soaking the leaves into the water for a week in order for the fiber to decompose easily and separated from each other. The whole process is time consuming and laborious. Therefore, different types of the fiber extraction machines are developed.

The decorticator machines are semi-automatic which are bulky heavy and huge in size making it hard to be transported. The conventional decorticator machine has multiple components such as feed roller, leaf scratching and serrated roller. The leaves are fed through the feed roller and then passed through the scratching roller. The upper surface of the leaves is first scratched by the scratching roller blades to remove the waxy layer and then passed through the serrated roller whereby the closely fitted blades of the roller macerate the leaf and produce several breaks on the leaf surface for easy entry of the retting microbes. The total fiber extraction process using the decorticator machines is time consuming. The automatic decorticator machine is costly and needs a skilled operator to operate the machine. Therefore, there is need for such an extraction machine that can provide good material strength and low in elongation during stress.

To overcome the above mentioned drawbacks there are several patents disclosing about natural fiber extraction machines, some of which are listed below for reference. A prior art, the United States of America granted patent number US5632135A discloses a machine for harvesting and decorticating ramie plants is shown in the form of a wheeled vehicle using an adjustable sickle bar or rotary blades located in the front of the machine for selecting the mature stalks. A series of entry points are provided for the plants, wherein the uniformly cut stalks travel back falling on an apron at a 45° angle for the first decorticating butt drum. A leaf stripper strips any leaves left at the stalks just before the butt decorticator drum. The second decorticating drum has helically arrayed bars on its exterior surface, operably disposed adjacent a machined surface located on a first leg of a generally U-shaped breast plate, such that the interaction of the bars with the breast plate removes unusable portions of the plants adjacent the upper ends and frees the ramie fibers. The third decorticating drum is operably disposed adjacent the machined surface located on the second leg of the U- shaped breast plate, for further removal of unusable plant portions from the ramie fibers resulting in clean decorticated fibers rather than ribboned fibers. Water is sprayed onto the stalks at point of entry into the third drum which facilitates the decortication and cleaning of the fiber being pulled out of the drum.

Another cited prior art, the United States of America granted patent number US9957642B2 discloses A fibrous plant stalk decorticator comprising: a feeding device; a breaker having a first plurality of blades; a skutcher having a second plurality of blades, the skutcher positioned such that the first and second pluralities of blades overlap; a plurality of air outlets passing through the blades and configured to provided pressurized air to a fibrous plant stalk as it is passed through the decorticator. However, the above mentioned prior arts have several drawbacks such as it requires many components to carry out the extraction process. Further, continuously progressing even after stalk is removed from the leave makes it harder to extract the fibers fully. This is caused by the gummy resin, or sap substances which increase the adhesion between pulp and the fibers tend to harden.

The present invention provides a plurality of rollers with blades arranged on a support or a machine to pull the agricultural product and simultaneously remove gummy resin or sap substance from the agricultural products.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides an apparatus to extract fibre from an agricultural product comprising: a first roller having pre-determined number of blades extending from its body; and a second roller, having pre-determined number of blades extending from its body, characterized in that, the first roller and the second roller are rotatably arranged with respect to each other on a support in such a way that during the rotation, one end of the agricultural product is fed in between the first roller and the second roller, the blades pulls the agricultural product inwardly and simultaneously extracts resin from the agricultural product.

Preferably, the first roller and the second roller are arranged one above the other with respect to a vertical axis.

Preferably, the first roller and the second roller are arranged side by side with respect to a horizontal axis.

Preferably, the first roller and the second roller rotate simultaneously in opposite directions.

Preferably, number of blades arranged on the first roller is greater than the number of blades on the second roller. Further, the apparatus comprises of a pair of mounting brackets to mount the first roller and the second roller to the support.

Preferably, the first roller and the second roller are separated by a pre-determined gap.

Preferably, the blade has a profile of a straight shape with sharp tip.

Preferably, ends of the first roller and the second roller are tapered.

Preferably, the first roller rotates in anti-clock direction and the second roller rotates in clock direction to pull the agricultural product inwardly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood, when the following detailed description is read with reference to the accompanying drawings in which like characters represent like parts throughout the drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 illustrates position of first roller and a second roller, in accordance to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 illustrates the roller and raw material feed direction, in accordance to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The term “agricultural product” used in this document can refer to a leaf or stems or husk or seeds extracted from any tree not limiting to palm, screw pine, sisal, agave, coir, banana, hemp, flax, jute, coconut, bamboo, cotton, pineapple and any other suitable tree known in the art. The present invention discloses about an apparatus to extract better quality and quantity of fiber from an agricultural product at a faster time.

Referring to Figure 1 and Figure 2, the apparatus (10) comprises a first roller (1), a second roller (2), a support (3), a pair of roller mounting bracket (4, 5) and a screw hole (6).

In an embodiment, the first roller (1) and the second roller (2) are rotatably arranged with each other one above another in a vertical axis with a pre-determined gap in between the rollers (1, 2). The first roller (1) preferably is an upper roller arranged on upper side of the support (3) using at least two roller mounting bracket (4). A bolt and nut is used to secure the roller mounting bracket (4) on the screw hole (6) in order to tighten the position of the first roller (1) to the support (3). The first roller (1) is preferably provided with at least 19 closely fitted blades extending from its body has a straight body with a sharp tip of an angle in a range of 30 to 40 degrees. The second roller (2) preferably is a lower roller arranged on lower side of the support (3) using at least two roller mounting bracket (5). The bolt and nut is used to secure the roller mounting bracket (5) on the screw hole (6) so as to tighten the position on the second roller to the support (3). The second roller (2) is preferably provided with at least 13 widely spaced blades extending from its body have the straight body with the sharp tip of an angle in the range of 30 to 40 degrees. Preferably, both ends of the first roller

(1) and the second roller (2) are tapered to facilitate the ends of the first roller (1) and the second roller (2) to be easily inserted into the roller mounting brackets (4). The support (3) can be a machine.

The first roller (1) and the second roller (2) rotate in opposite direction with respect to each other mounted to the support (3). Preferably, the first roller (1) rotates in anti clock direction and the second roller (2) rotates in clock direction. The agricultural product is fed toward inward direction of the both first roller (1) and the second roller

(2) the blades pulls the agricultural product inwardly and simultaneously removes gummy resin or sap from the agricultural product by punching and tearing of the agricultural product into the fibers. Due to blade ratio of the first roller (1) and the second roller (2) the natural fiber extraction time is reduced. An average fiber length of the regenerated fiber is 100 to 300 mm obtained from the apparatus (10). The rotation of the first roller (1) and the second roller (2) is preferably provided by a motor connected with it or the first roller (1) and the second roller (2) can be rotated manually.

In an alternative embodiment, the first roller (1) and the second roller (2) are arranged side by side with respect to horizontal axis. The agricultural product is fed from top direction into the first roller (1) and the second roller (2).

The advantages are it provides quality and quantity of the natural fiber to be extracted in faster time. The roller blades are cost effective and can be easily mounted to any support to any machine.

The present disclosure includes as contained in the appended claims, as well as that of the foregoing description. Although this invention has been described in its preferred form with a degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure of the preferred form has been made only by way of example and that numerous changes in the details of construction and the combination and arrangements of parts may be resorted to without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. An apparatus (10) to extract fibre from an agricultural product comprising: a first roller (1) having pre-determined number of blades extending from its body; and a second roller (2), having pre-determined number of blades extending from its body, characterized in that, the first roller (1) and the second roller (2) are rotatably arranged with respect to each other on a support (3) in such a way that during the rotation, one end of the agricultural product is fed in between the first roller (1) and the second roller (2), the blades pulls the agricultural product inwardly and simultaneously extracts resin from the agricultural product.

2. The apparatus (10) according to claim 1, wherein the first roller (1) and the second roller (2) are arranged one above the other with respect to a vertical axis.

3. The apparatus (10) according to claim 1, wherein the first roller (1) and the second roller (2) are arranged side by side with respect to a horizontal axis.

4. The apparatus (10) according to claim 1, wherein the first roller (1) and the second roller (2) rotates simultaneously in opposite directions.

5. The apparatus (100) according to claim 1, wherein number of blades arranged on the first roller (1) is greater than the number of blades on the second roller (2).

6. The apparatus (100) according to claim 1, further comprising a pair of mounting brackets (4, 5) to mount the first roller (1) and the second roller (2) to the support (3).

7. The apparatus (100) according to claim 1, wherein the first roller (1) and the second roller (2) are separated by a pre-determined gap.

8. The apparatus (100) according to claim 1, wherein the blade has a profile of a straight shape with sharp tip.

9. The apparatus (100) according to claim 1, wherein ends of the first roller (1) and the second roller (2) are tapered.

10. The apparatus (100) according to claim 1, wherein the first roller (1) rotates in anti-clock direction and the second roller (2) rotates in clock direction to pull the agricultural product inwardly.