The Universal Washing Machine is a pre-processing machine designed to effectively clean a wide range of delicate and coarse fruit, vegetable, and pulse products in the food processing industry. The word "Universal" in its name comes from its flexibility to wash both soft products like tomatoes and peaches, and leafy vegetables like beans and spinach, or pulses.
- Fruits or vegetables to be washed are generally fed into the machine's main washing tank with the help of an elevator belt (conveyor belt).
- Pressurized air is injected into the water from air collector pipes or special nozzles located in the lower part of the machine, with the help of a high-capacity blower (air fan).
- The pressurized air creates intense bubbles within the water. As these bubbles rise towards the water surface, they continuously agitate the water in the washing tank, creating a "boiling" or "sloshing" effect.
- Products (such as strawberries, spinach, or tomatoes) move gently within this dense, bubbly water. This sloshing motion prevents the products from hitting each other or the machine surface harshly, ensuring that sand, mud, pesticide residues, and other debris on them are dissolved and removed without causing damage.
- Dissolved sand, mud, and heavy foreign matter settle in a special collection basin at the bottom of the tank, despite the movement of the water, and do not mix with the products.
- As the products advance on the water surface inside the tank, they are directed to a cleated or perforated wire mesh belt elevator at the exit section. The exit belt usually features fresh water sprays to ensure additional cleaning.
