Increasing saffron exports by the method of the country’s researchers
In the semi-industrial phase, the country’s researchers introduced an automatic device for separating saffron flower components, which, by removing its contaminants, made it possible to export a quality product to world markets.
Mehrdad Karami, the manager of Deba project, stated that more than 90% of the world saffron production belongs to Iran, ، said: saffron flower purification process is one of the parts of saffron production that is done manually all over the world.
He described cleaning the saffron flower by hand as time consuming and difficult and reminded: the most difficult stage of saffron production is the separation of the stigma and the red part of the saffron, which is very time consuming, while there is a possibility of saffron contamination.
Emphasizing that the contamination of saffron flowers has negative effects on the export of this product, Karami pointed out: to solve this problem, we implemented a plan in the field of designing and building a device for separating saffron flower components based on image processing.
He said that the basis of the operation of this device is image processing and reminded: using this device, in addition to increasing the speed of separation of stigmas from saffron flowers, eliminates the entry of contaminants. This machine will increase the area under cultivation and its export price.
The project manager, referring to the samples made in this field, explained: in the presented samples, saffron flowers should be entered by hand into the machine and the direction of the flowers should be determined, which increases the possibility of saffron contamination.
Emphasizing that the design and construction of this device has been based on extensive studies on the measures taken in the past and the design of various tests and implementation of various processes, he noted: This device is made in such a way that the possibility of automatic processing of saffron flowers Provides at high speed and in industrial dimensions.
Karami expressed the performance of the device for separating saffron flower components and said: In this device, saffron flowers enter the device in a mass in any direction and any size, whether buds or open flowers, and after entering, the flowers are identified and identified. The cuts will be transferred.
He added: This device enters the separation section based on the vision technology of the machine, and in this section, it is identified and cut through image processing.
The researcher continued by stating that there is no need to separate and arrange saffron flowers in this device: Finally, the cut components of the flower enter the separation section and 4 parts of the saffron flower are separated from each other.
According to him, all these processes are implemented automatically.
Karami, stating that a semi-industrial model of this device has been made, said: Designing and manufacturing an industrial model of this device is on the agenda, which will be offered by next summer.
He added: The separation capacity of saffron flowers in the industrial sample is 200 kg per day.
Get Social