Abstract:
Tender jackfruit is the immature jackfruit which is harvested before the fruit
has reached maturity. At present demand for tender jackfruit is increasing day by day.
The growers, entrepreneurs and volunteers may focus more on tender jackfruit value
added products. But the traditional manual method of peeling is done by using a knife,
which is a time consuming process and causes drudgery. The fruit is widely under-
utilized due to the large peeling losses and intensive labour when it comes to the peeling
operations. Thus effective mechanization for this process is a need of the hour.
The present study aims at development and evaluation of a tender jackfruit
peeling machine. The principle operation of the machine is, as the tender jackfruit
rotates peeling is done helically due to the linear motion of the blade from top to
bottom. Performance evaluation of the machine was conducted in the college workshop
with three sizes of tender jackfruit viz. small, medium, large fruit. Rotational speed of
the tender jackfruit holder was fixed at 100 rpm. The peeling action took less time
(128.4 s) in small size jackfruits compared to medium as well as large sized fruits. The
time of peeling was maximum (138 s) in case of large size tender jackfruit. The peeling
efficiency was highest (93.1%) in large size fruits whereas, lowest (86.5%) in case of
small size fruits. The highest material loss (9.7%) was observed in large size fruits
whereas, lowest(9.34%) was found in small size fruit. A comparative study of manual
method of peeling with the developed tender jackfruit peeler was carried out. The
average time taken for peeling using manual operation and mechanical operation was
found to be 5.20min/fruit and 2.30 min/fruit, respectively. The cost of the machine was
estimated as Rs. 35,000/-. The operational cost of the machine was measured as
Rs.150.86 /day. The benefit-cost ratio of the developed machine was 2.31:1. The
developed machine aids in faster peeling of tender jackfruit with least drudgery besides
more efficient and hence it could be recommended to use in small and medium scale
jackfruit processing industry.
