Control System in Crusher and Sorting Nutmeg Seed Machine based
on Arduino Uno
Alfred Noufie Mekel and Tineke Saroinsong
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Manado State Polytechnic, Manado, Indonesia
Keywords: Crusher, Sorting, Nutmeg, Arduino Uno.
Abstract: The aim of this research is to help the businessmen and exporters of nutmeg seeds by designing
and manufacturing control system on nutmeg crusher and sorting machine, so that they can
accelerate the process of nutmeg seed sorting. This research was conducted at the Production
Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Manado State Polytechnic. The method used
in this research is design and manufacture, that
focused on the automatic control section. The design
of the nutmeg seed sorting tool uses a cmu pixy camera image sensor and an ultraviolet lamp that
serves to light up the color. The working system of this tool will be carried out automatically which
is controlled by an arduino uno AT Mega 328 microcontroller.
1 INTRODUCTION
Nutmeg is a medium-stemmed plant with a height of
18 m, has oval or oval leaves that are always green
throughout the year. Nutmeg can grow in the tropics
at an altitude below 700 m above sea level, humid and
hot climates, rainfall 2,000 - 3,500 mm without
experiencing a significant dry season period. The
major nutmeg producing regions in Indonesia are the
Maluku Islands, North Sulawesi, West Sumatra,
Nanggroe Aceh Darusalam, West Java and Papua
(Rismunandar, 1990). The development of nutmeg
planted areas throughout Indonesia until 2013 has
reached 140,000 ha with a production of 25,800 tons
of nutmeg (Directorate General of Indonesian
Plantation, 2014).
Nutmeg is known as a spice plant that has
economic and multipurpose value because every part
of the plant can be utilized in various industries.
Seeds, mace and nutmeg oil are export commodities
and are used in the food and beverage industry. Oils
derived from seeds, mace and leaves are widely used
in the pharmaceutical, perfume and cosmetics
industries. Yellow rounded nutmeg when old, fleshy
in white. The seeds are thin-skinned, rather hard,
brownish black, wrapped in a crimson colored mace.
The contents of the seeds are white, when dried to
dark brown with a distinctive aroma. Nutmeg consists
of flesh (77.8%), mace (4%), shell (5.1%), and seeds
(13.1%) (Rismunandar, 1990). Commercially nutmeg
and mace (mace) is the most important part of nutmeg
and can be made into various products including
essential oils and oleoresin. Another product that may
be made from nutmeg seeds is nutmeg which is
trimyristin which can be used for edible oils and the
cosmetics industry (Somaatmaja, 1984).
In the handling of agricultural products, division,
peeling and cutting are work that is always done from
harvesting until the product is ready for consumption
or further processing. For example, vegetables are cut
before cooking, tubers and bananas are sliced before
frying, pineapple sliced before canning, and grass is
cut before being given to cattle. The work of splitting,
peeling and cutting agricultural produce in small
quantities can be completed manually using a knife or
other cutting tool. However, if the amount is large
enough, such as stripping coconuts at harvest,
stripping manually requires considerable time and
labor. High capacity peeling machine is needed, so
the effectiveness and efficiency in this case is
absolutely necessary (Wiriaatmadja, 1995).
The division of the flesh of the fruit, seeds, and
mace is carried out after the ripe nutmegs are
collected, the fruit is split and between the flesh, mace
and seeds are separated. Each part of the nutmeg is
placed in a clean and dry container. The release of
mace from the seeds is carried out carefully, from the
tip towards the base, in order to obtain a complete
mace that is classified as high quality. The seeds
collected are sorted into 3 types, namely: fat and
Mekel, A. and Saroinsong, T.
Control System in Crusher and Sorting Nutmeg Seed Machine based on Arduino Uno.
DOI: 10.5220/0010966200003260
In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Applied Science and Technology on Engineering Science (iCAST-ES 2021), pages 1405-1409
ISBN: 978-989-758-615-6; ISSN: 2975-8246
Copyright
c
 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
1405

intact, thin or wrinkled, and defective. (Directorate
General of Indonesian Plantation, 2012).
One way to increase the economic value of
nutmeg, especially for the export market, is by
sorting. The sorting process aims to determine the
classification of commodities based on similar quality
(Zain et al, 2005). Sorting is fraction sorting activity
based on physical characteristics (water content,
shape, weight, type, texture, color, foreign
matter/dirt), chemical (odor composition and
rancidity), and biological conditions (type of damage
by insects, microbial counts, and special growth for
seeds). In the process of sorting is done by examining
indicators such as intensity, color, size, shape, or
texture of the fruit (Arivazhagan et al, 2010). The
quality of nutmeg itself is determined by various
parameters including the parameters of maturity or
color index and size (Radityo et al, 2012).
The process of sorting fruits and seeds is still
using conventional methods, namely the use of
human labor (manual). This has the disadvantage that
human judgment is still subjective and inconsistent
with fruit objects and repetitive work can cause
burnout. For this reason, it is necessary to apply a
system that can carry out the sorting process
automatically (Febyan and Slamet, 2017).
In this study, we will try to combine a sorting
machine in the form of a conveyor using an image
sensor. This research was also developed based on
previous studies. Diah et al (2012) designed an
automation model based on color and size using
TCS3200 sensors and ultrasonic sensors. Al Amin et
al (2013) designed separators using laser and
photodiode detection sensors. Mochammad et al
(2017) implemented a sorting system based on color
and temperature using the NRF24L01 wireless
module.
The design of the nutmeg seed sorting tool uses a
cmu pixy camera image sensor and an ultraviolet
lamp that serves to light up the color. The working
system of this tool will be carried out automatically
which is controlled by an arduin uno AT Mega 328
microcontroller. With this system it is expected to be
able to increase efficiency and effectiveness in terms
of nutmeg sorting.
2 RESEARCH METHODS
2.1 Overview of the Nutmeg Sorter
Intelligent System
General description of this intelligent system consists
of input in the form of an image sensor with cmu pixy
camera, ultraviolet lights, and micro switch. After the
input detects the data will be sent to the Arduino uno
microcontroller and will give an output execution
command, where the DC motor will move the nutmeg
sorter bar. System block diagram shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Block Diagram of the System
2.2 Mechanical Design
The design of mechanical design is shown in figure 2.
In mechanical design. This smart system considers
several important things, including:
1. The shape and size of the frame is kept to a
minimum in order to produce a system that
effective and efficient.
2. Circuits on electronic systems are kept to a
minimum to avoid error and excessive use of
jumper cables.
Conducting grouping of modules and other electronic
components to be more orderly and do not interfere
with other components.
2.3 Electrical Design
The design of the electrical design is shown in Figure
3. In the design of electrically intelligent systems
must consider several important things, including:
1. The DC source that will be used in this circuit is
12V, where the use of the Arduino Uno module
can work at 5V.
2. The microcontroller that will be used in this
study is Arduino Uno.
3. Control design to support this application using
some software.
The control system design uses C programming
language in Arduino IDE to acquire analogue and
digital data from the voltage sensor output.
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Figure 2: Mechanical Design.
(a) Real Display of Electrical Design
(b)
Figure 3: Electrical Design (a) Real Display (b) Circuit.
3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Result of Design and Manufacture
The main part of this intelligent nutmeg sorter system
model is the presence of an image sensor in the form
of a cmu pixy camera that is coupled with an arduino
uno microcontroller controller. After the broken
nutmeg seeds come out of the mechanical sorting
guide, the nutmeg seeds will enter the conveyors one
by one (in line). After that, nutmeg seeds will go into
a dark room with ultraviolet lights (Figure 4).
Figure 4: Ultraviolet Light.
If the nutmeg seeds are exposed to ultraviolet light
from the lamp, the nutmeg seeds will reflect white if
they contain toxins, and will remain dark if they do
not contain poisons. In this section the nutmeg will be
detected by a cmu pixy camera that functions as an
image sensor for the sorting process which will be
executed by the separator bar. The sorting indicator
itself is distinguished by white and colorless (dark). If
the nutmeg seeds that pass through the conveyor are
detected reflecting white then the separating bar is
active, conversely if a colorless nutmeg is detected by
the camera, the separating bar is not active. The
overall results of intelligent system design are shown
in Figure 5.
Figure 5: Prototype of Intelligent Nutmeg Sorter System.
Structural and Functional Test
At the structural test stage, testing is carried out aimed
at finding out whether the system designed is in
accordance with the previously designed concept.
This test is done by knowing whether the electronic
module is connected correctly so that the system can
function properly and has the performance and
function according to the design. The test results are
shown in table 1.
Control System in Crusher and Sorting Nutmeg Seed Machine based on Arduino Uno
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Table 1: Structural Test.
Component of the Syste
m
Connect to Description
Cmu pixy camera
Pin A0 connected
Arduino uno
Pin A1 connected
Out Pin A2
Se
p
aratin
g
bar
Pin A3 connected
At the functional testing stage, the test is aimed to
determine whether the voltage flowing in the circuit
is in accordance with what is needed. This test is done
by testing the output voltage of each component using
a multi meter or with a program.
Validation Test
This stage is carried out with the aim to find out which
intelligent system has been working correctly or not.
Tests carried out by looking at the system output. The
output that is produced from the color input that
enters the microcontroller is processed with a
predetermined value so that it can sort the nutmeg
seeds according to the specified indicators.
Figure 6: An image captured from cmu pixy camera.
Furthermore, the control system testing is carried out.
At this stage, the intelligent system that is created will
be tested whether it is working properly or not.
Testing is done by looking at the system output.
Table 2: Example Testing I of Cracked Nutmeg.
No.
Separating Bar Color of Nutme
g
Descri
p
tion
1
Opened White Succes
2
Opened White Succes
3
Opened White Succes
4
Closed Black Succes
5
Opened Black Failed
6
Closed Black Succes
7
Closed Black Succes
Table 3: Example Testing II of Cracked Nutmeg.
No.
Separating Bar Color of Nutme
g
Descri
p
tion
1 Opened White Succes
2 Opened White Succes
3 Opened White Succes
4 Closed Black Succes
5 Closed Black Succes
6 Opened Black Failed
7 Closed Black Succes
The output produced from the input of broken
nutmegs into a dark room equipped with an
ultraviolet light and a cmu camera, which then by the
microcontroller orders the mechanical system of the
dc motor to open or close the separating bar so that it
can sort out toxic and non-toxic nutmeg. The example
results of this test could be seen in Table 2 and Table
3 and Table 4. The process of this testing is performed
50 times with each using a variety of broken nutmeg.
Obtained successful trial data each of 45 times. The
success rate achieved is 90%.
Table 4: Example Testing III of Cracked Nutmeg.
No. Separating Bar
Color of
Nutmeg
Description
1
Opened White Succes
2
Opened White Succes
3
Opened White Succes
4
Closed Black Succes
5
Closed Black Succes
6
Closed Black Succes
7
Closed Black Succes
The output produced from the input of broken
nutmegs into a dark room equipped with an
ultraviolet light and a cmu camera, which then by the
microcontroller orders the mechanical system of the
dc motor to open or close the separating bar so that it
can sort out toxic and non-toxic nutmeg. The example
results of this test could be seen in Table 2 and Table
3 and Table 4. The process of this testing is performed
50 times with each using a variety of broken nutmeg.
Obtained successful trial data each of 45 times. The
success rate achieved is 90%.
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4 CONCLUSIONS
This research produced a crushing and sorting
machine that can separate poisonous nutmegs and not
through a control system with an arduino uno and
cmu pixy camera. The result of the study is an
intelligent system which can increase the
effectiveness and efficiency of the nutmeg sorting
process because it can be done automatically and
continuously. The intelligent nutmeg seed sorter
system model based on the color produced through
ultraviolet lights by using a cmu pixy camera that
functions as an arduino uno based image sensor still
needs further development to get optimal results. This
system is expected to be applied and become a
recommendation for nutmeg entrepreneurs,
especially nutmeg exporters in North Sulawesi.
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