Development and Performance Evaluation of Plantain peeler cum slicer

Abstract

Peeling and slicing of green mature plantains of Nendran variety is labour intensive and costly. At present, it is carried out manually and no means of mechanical peeling and slicing device has been commercialized till now. The conventional method of peeling and slicing is done by using stainless steel knives. This poses danger to operator’s finger by inflicting injury and also does not produce chips of uniform size. Prior to the development of banana peeler, a survey was conducted in Malappuram and the adjacent districts to study the existing methods of banana peeling and slicing. Also an investigation of the physical and mechanical properties of green mature plantain was under taken. Based on these properties, plantain peeler cum slicer was developed. The peeling unit of the fabricated machine consists of feeding cylinders, peeling blades, conical throat and splitters. The green plantain fed into the feeding cylinder was pushed down by a pushing mechanism . Peeling was achieved by the cutting action of the circular shaped blade that would force the peel from the plantain as it passes through the mechanism. Slicing unit consists of a cylindrical guide, slicing disc and blade. Slicing was achieved by rotating the disc at an rpm of 300. The slicing unit was powered with 10 A, 12 V, DC motor with 32 kg/cm torque. The actual capacity of the peeling unit was calculated as 18.54, 25.98 and 36.87 kg/hr respectively for small, medium and large sized plantains. Average peeling efficiency and material loss were obtained as 88.94 % and 13.69 % respectively. The overall capacity, slicing efficiency and effective capacity of the plantain slicer was found to be 89.27 kg/h, 89.16 % and 79.59 kg/hr respectively. The capacity of the developed peeler cum slicer was four times higher than manual operation. Total operating cost of the fabricated plantain peeler cum slicer was calculated as 39.67 kg/h.