Design and construction of a motorized pineapple peeler.

Abstract

Pineapple (Ananascosmosus) is as scientifically known and belongs to the Bromeliaeeous family one of the most important tropical fruits. This fruit can be consumed fresh or processed in various forms. Pineapples in Uganda are generally grown as a sole crop or an intercrop with bananas. Pineapple is mainly grown in. Kayunga, Tororo, Lawero, Mpigi, Sembabule, Kyenjojo and Iganga. The peeling is done in order to allow edibility and ensure palatability. The pineapple peels are located in the epidermis while the soluble extract are mainly located in the cytoplasm of fruit flesh cells. For improved palatability and further processing, pineapple must be peeled and cored. The hand operated peelers and corers are time consuming and hence have limited output. Furthermore, there are high levels of contaminations in the hand operated peelers. Also due to the shape of pineapple fruit, many of the available hand operated peeling machines tend to leave fruit much on the waste. Because of this there is need to design and fabricate a machine. The machine consists of a motor, shaft, pulleys, belts, a knife, a shape controller, slide, plate. The pineapple is fixed and sits on the plate; the shaft will rotate with the pineapple. With the help of the pulleys and a belt, the horizontal rotation of the motor is transmitted to vertical rotation using a set of pulleys with speed conversion ratio of 1:10. The knife is moved up by a threaded power shaft connected to the knife by a bolt. The knife can then be moved down easily by opening the bolt. The knife is directed along a curved path by the bolt as it peels the pineapple. The knife can be adjusted according to the shape of the pineapple. The deepness of the cut can also be adjusted by moving the slide.