Mechanical peeling of pumpkins. Part 1: Using an abrasive-cutter brush

Abstract

Combining the functional basis of current peeling methods led to the development of a new innovative peeling method named the "abrasive-cutter brush". It could utilize the benefits of the current peeling methods. The flexibility of brushes could provide easy access of the brush's protrusions to different areas of the produce. Each protrusion on the brush, as a small cutting unit, cut and removed abrasively the peel pieces. The cutting action caused effective peeling while the abrasive action showed higher production rate compared with the existing methods. The optimized results revealed peeling effects of 18.60%/ min and 20%/min for concave and convex areas, respectively at 0.18%/min peel losses. The optimum conditions of independent variables were 550 rpm for rotational velocity of brushes, 5 rpm for rotational velocity of vegetable holder, 20 mm lower than the middle horizontal plane of produce for the position of brushes, and medium for brush coarseness.