Separation of Saffron Stigma from Stamen and Petal in a Vertical Wind Tunnel and Evaluation by Fuzzy Logic

In this paper the separation of saffron stigma from stamen and petal in a vertical wind tunnel has been evaluated. A wind tunnel with adjustable speed of 0.1 m s-1 intervals has been developed and used for the experiments. Floating velocities of flower components (petal, stigma and stamen) were measured at one, eight, 38 and 60 hours after harvesting. Subsequently, the separation was tested by putting all flower components in the tunnel. The experimental results were also analyzed by fuzzy logic. The average floating velocities of stigma, stamen and petal at one hour after harvesting were measured as 3.21, 2.20 and 1.41 m s-1, respectively. The results showed that because of the high difference among the floating velocities of flower components, it is possible to separate the components in a vertical wind tunnel. Experimental results analysis showed that at the best condition which was one hour after harvesting and wind speed of 2.8 m s-1 in the tunnel, the system leaves 81% of the stigmas in the tunnel and blows out of the tunnel 84% of stamens and 89% of petals. The results also showed that as much as the time passes over the harvested flowers, the separation efficiency decreases.