Effect of physical and mechanical properties of cassava tubers on the performance of an automated peeling machine

Peeling of cassava tuber at all levels is still largely carried out manually; however, this work is presented with a view to investigate the effect of physical and mechanical properties of cassava tubers on mechanical peeling and hence provides a basis for cassava peeling mechanization. These properties include size of the tuber, tl, proportion by weight of peel, wp, average moisture content of the peel, map, peel thickness, tp, tuber diameter, td, tuber surface taper angle, α, peel penetration force, F, and peel shearing stress, ts. The results showed that for Slmhf; tl ranged from 140-460mm, wp ranged from 13.12-20.06%, map was 76.27%, tp ranged from 1.62-4.34mm, td ranged from 31.08-136.63mm, α ranged from 9.03-23.130, F ranged from 0.17-1.85N/mm, ts ranged from 0.85-9.25N/mm2 and quality performance of the machine, QPE, for this tuber ranged from 70.82-96.21%. Similarly, for Ssmlf; tl ranged from 125-362mm, wp ranged from 10.52-16.66%, map was 70.97%, tp ranged from 1.22-4.12mm, td ranged from 18.86-99.29mm, α ranged from 5.20-12.290, F ranged from 0.13-1.54N/mm, ts ranged from 0.65-7.70N/mm2 and quality performance of the machine, QPE, for this tuber ranged from 67.27-92.25 %. The results confirm influence of physico-mechanical properties of cassava tuber on mechanical peeling