Design of an Automatic Lotus Plumule Removing Machine

Presently, the traditional approach to removing plumule from lotus seed has several problems, i.e., low work efficiency, high labor intensity and safety issues. In this paper, a novel plumule removing technology is proposed, with the mechanism analysis of plumule removal process, design of the self-adaptive plumule removal mechanism and control system development. Firstly, a plumule removing technique based on the fluid injection principle is presented. The plumule is extruded and removed with a hollow needle by injecting compressed air. Then, a self-adaptive centering method is implemented to precisely centering the position of plumule with regards to lotus seeds of different sizes. The processing sequence is accomplished by the control system, which is composed of a human machine interface (HMI) and a programmable logical controller (PLC), aiming to coordinate and control mechanical actions in the process. Finally, the machine performance is experimentally evaluated by a number of tests, with the rate of successful separation being 73%. The result demonstrates the designed machine meets the requirements and thus effectively alleviate labor costs, maximize processing efficiency while still preserving the economic value of the lotus seeds.