Design and fabrication of a mechanized Irish potato peeler.

Abstract

Irish potatoes are widely grown in various districts in Uganda including: Kabale, Kisoro, Rukungiri, Mbarara, Kasese, Kabarole, Masaka, Mubende, Mbale, Kapchorwa and Nebbi districts. Peeling of potatoes is done when potatoes are required for consumption or processing into products like chips and crisps. In Uganda, potato peeling is often done manually using a hand knife; manual peeling using a hand knife, is a highly tedious; labour intensive and time consuming process that is also accompanied by high quantitative and qualitative losses. There are a number of different mechanical peelers on the market which are manual or band operated and others are automatic or electric but these are expensive and cannot be afforded by most people in Uganda. The main objective of this project was to design and fabricate a low cost mechanized potato peeler to be used to peel Irish potatoes. The mechanized potato designed and fabricated in this project consisted of the machine frame, the peeling drum with brushes inside for peeling and the power unit. Design and selection of the various components of the potato peeler were carried out by analyzing forces acting on the components, sizing of the components, and selection of proper materials to be used to fabricate the components. The selected materials were those which would withstand the applied forces in order to avoid failure of the components during operation of the potato peeler. The designed and fabricated components of the potato peeler were assembled together to make the prototype. The rate of peeling efficiency of the prototype was tested to determine the amount of potatoes the machine can peel within a specific period of time. The cost evaluation of' the designed and fabricated potato peeler was carried to determine the cost incurred during fabrication so as to find out if the machine is more economical and affordable compared to the available potato on market.