Improvement and Evaluation of Honey Extractor

Abstract

The traditional method of extracting honey leads to a reduction in nutritional value and quality thus, a honey extractor; a mechanical device that extracts honey from its comb was improved and evaluated using easily available materials. The main objective of this study is the improvement and performance evaluation of a honey extractor. The main functional parts of the machine are the net frame, wire mesh driving shaft, driving gear, operating handle to facilitate the winding process, and basket designed to hold and spin three honeycomb frames, constructed using a 1.5 mm thick aluminum sheet, placed vertically into the extractor. The honey extractor is cylindrical and operated by manually turning the operating handle. The time taken for honey extraction had a significant effect on the performance of the honey extractor; the machine capacity, efficiency, and weight of honey extracted decreased as the time taken for extraction increased, with optimum values of 93.37%, 40.46 kg/hr for machine efficiency, and capacity respectively. The machine is portable and can be operated without any special training or technical know-how, the machine also can preserve and leave the honeycomb undamaged after honey extraction.