AUTOMATED PINEAPPLE PEELING AND SLICING MACHINE
Krishna Prakasha1, Mahadev U M 2, Vinay B U3, Shivakumar4
1
M.Tech Student, Department of Mechanical Engineering.
2,3,4
Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering.
1, 2, 3, 4
Sahyadri College of Engineering and Management, Mangalore.
Abstract cuts the pineapple with the help of air supply
Pineapple cutting machine is a machine used from the pneumatic cylinder. The main
to cut and peel the pineapple to form the purpose of this project is to reduce the man
cylindrical shape pulp. Various fruit cutting power, work load and production time.
machines are available in the market, but Keywords: Automation, Pneumatic Cylinder,
most of the machines cannot accomplish all Microcontroller, Solenoid valve.
the process automatically. The main aim of
this research is to develop a pineapple cutting I. INTRODUCTION
machine to solve the problems faced by Small In this project, we have automated the
Medium Enterprise (SME) industries, where operation of pineapple peeling and slicing in
the machine developed can reduce the time various places. Machine consists of motor and
taken for pineapple slice preparation. air supply to operate the pineapple peeling and
The present work involves the design and slicing equipment. Some needs of automation
development of pineapple machine to fulfill are described below.
the user needs. Designed machine aims at Automation can be achieved through
automating the process of peeling and slicing computers, hydraulics, pneumatics, robotics,
of pineapple. It consists of motor and etc. of these sources, pneumatics form an
pneumatic cylinder to operate the pineapple attractive medium for low cost automation.
peeling and slicing equipment. In order to Now a day, almost all the manufacturing
operate the machine, pineapple is initially process is being atomized in order to deliver the
located at the machine. Air supply to the products at a faster rate. The manufacturing
pneumatic cylinder is fully controlled by a operation is being atomized for the following
microcontroller through the solenoid valve reasons.
and also controls the lead screw movement. To reduce man power
Once the machine gets operated, pneumatic To reduce the work load
cylinder peels the skin of the pineapple which To reduce the production time
To reduce the fatigue of workers
is placed at the outside of the cutting cylinder
2. Materials Used And Discussion
where as core of the pineapple will be placed
at the inside of the cutting cylinder. The Pineapple peeling and slicing machine mainly
pineapple is pushed by a push plate using consists of 6 major parts as motor, pneumatic
motor and lead screw arrangement. After cylinder, solenoid valve, lead screw,
pushing of the pineapple core, cutting blade microcontroller and proximity sensor.
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a.The Machine consists of DC motor. The the outside of the cutting cylinder where as core
purpose of using DC motor is to provide of the pineapple will be placed at the inside of
rotational motion to the lead screw. the cutting cylinder. At the same time, lead
b.The Machine consists of two types of screw converts the rotary motion supplied from
pneumatic cylinders. 100 100 and 50 100 the motor into linear motion to the push plate.
pneumatic cylinders. Because of the slot provided in the cutting
c.100 100 pneumatic cylinder has provided cylinder, push plate pushes the core of the
with a lead screw arrangement and is used for pineapple and cutting will take place with the
removing the core and skin of the pineapple. help of cutting blade provided at the top of the
d.50 100 pneumatic cylinder has provided pneumatic cylinder. Proximity sensors are used
with a linkage system and cutting blade. to sense the object.
e.The Machine is provided with a solenoid
valve. The use of solenoid valve in pineapple
peeling and slicing machine is to control the
supply of air to the pneumatic cylinder.
f.The Machine is also provided with a lead
screw which is also known as power screw or
translation screw. A lead screw is a screw
designed to translate radial motion into linear
motion. While working of the Machine, lead
screw converts the rotary motion and provides
the linear motion to the push plate.
g.The Machine consists of microcontroller
which controls the movement of lead screw.
h.Last component of the Machine is proximity
sensor. Two proximity sensors are needed and
are placed at the both sides of the lead screw.
The purpose of using proximity sensor is to
sense the object without any physical contact.
Fig 3.1: Pineapple Machine 2D Drawing
3. Method of operating the Machine
While operating the Machine, first the low
pressure atmospheric air enters the compressor
where the air gets compressed into high
pressure. High pressure compressed air is then
passed into solenoid valve which controls the
supply of air into pneumatic cylinder. As soon
as the solenoid valve opens, air enters the
pneumatic cylinder which is connected to the
cutting cylinder. Cutting cylinder is provided
with a motor and lead screw. Due to the
entering of air into the pneumatic cylinder, both
extraction and retraction processes takes place.
Fig 3.2: 3D Drawing of Automated Pineapple
During extraction process, cutting cylinder
Peeling and Slicing Machine
moves forward and hits the pineapple and starts
peeling of pineapple. During retraction
process, skin of the pineapple will be placed at
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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CURRENT ENGINEERING AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH (IJCESR)
Force during forward stroke,
F = {π/4x D^2 x P}
F = (2 x 105 N /m2) (3.14/4*(0.052)
F = 1570.8 N
1kg = 9.81 N
Load capacity during forward stroke W= F / g
W =1570.79 / 9.81
W =160.12 KG
Force during return stroke,
F = {π/4x (D2 – d2) x P}
F = {π/4x (0.12 – 0.0252) x 2x105}
Fig 3.3: Block Diagram
F = 1472.6 N
Inductive proximity sensors are provided, one
Load capacity during return stroke W= F / g
for initializing the motor in forward direction and
W =1472.6/ 9.81
other for sensing the motor in reverse direction.
W =150.11 KG
This function is to sense the metal object to some
distance. The maximum sensing distance is
Theoretical Air Consumption:
25mm. Proximity sensor is connected to the
Air consumption = 0.785 liter
microcontroller through the signal control unit.
Boyles Law, P1V1 = P2V2
The microcontroller used here is ATMEL
V2 = P1V1/ P2
89S52.The microcontroller operates at 5V, for
V2 = (2+1) (0.785)/ 1
these purpose one step down transformer is used,
V2 =2.35 liter /stroke
which converts 230v to 5v and is passed through
During return stroke,
the 7085 regulator which supplies exactly 5V to
Air consumption = {π/4x (D2- d2) x L}
the microcontroller. The program returns to the
Air consumption = {π/4x (0.12 – 0.0252) x0.1}
microcontroller by flashing method.
Air consumption = 7.36x 10-4 m3 = 0.736 liter
Microcontroller connects the driver circuit which
Boyles Law, P1V1 = P2V2
contains bridge rectifier, capacitor and regulator.
V2 = P1V1/ P2
The bridge rectifier converts the A.C current into
V2 = (2+1) (0.736)/ 1
D.C current. Capacitor is used for reducing the
V2 = 2.208 liter /stroke
noise. Regulator maintains exactly 5V to the
Theoretical air consumption per cycle = (Air
relay system. The relay is an integration of all
consumption during forward stroke + Air
circuit. The relay supplies current to the solenoid
consumption during return stroke)
valve (5/2 solenoid valve), which contains 5
Theoretical Air consumption per cycle =2.35 +
ports and 2 valves.
2.208
= 4.559
4. Design and Calculations
liter/ cycle
Pneumatic Cylinder (100 x 100):
Specification of Motor:
Mini pressure applied in the cylinder (P) =
Speed N = 30 RPM
2x105N/m2
Voltage V = 12 Volt
Diameter of the cylinder (D) =100mm
Loading Current I = 300 mA
Diameter of the piston rod (d) = 25 mm
No Load Current I = 60 mA
Stroke length = 100 mm
Power P =V x I
=12x0.3
Area of cylinder (A) = (3.14/4*(D2)
= 3.6 Watts
= (0.785x0.12)
P= 0.0048 HP
A= 7.85 x 10-3 m2
Motor Efficiency E = 36%
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Motor shaft diameter = 6 mm
Torque of the Motor:
The formula for calculating torque will be
Τ = (I * V * E *60) / (N * 2π)
Speed N = 30 RPM
Voltage V = 12 Volt
Loading Current I = 300 mA
T = (0.3x12x0.36x60)/30x2π
Torque = 0.412 Nm
T =4.2 Kg-cm
Parameters taken from standard lead screw:
1. Pitch of the lead screw P = 12.3 mm Fig 5.1: Graph of Force v/s Air Pressure
2. Speed of Lead Screw, N = 30 rpm
6. Conclusion
3. Outer diameter = 19 mm This work provides automaton of pineapple
4. Inner diameter = 15 mm peeling and slicing process. The time required
5. Thickness = 4.7 mm for the peeling and slicing is less compared to
6. The linear velocity of the lead screw = N manual operation. Manual operation requires 5
xp minutes for cutting and slicing of a single
pineapple. But automated pineapple machine
i. = 30 x12.3
will take nearly 30 seconds for cutting and
ii. =369mm/min slicing operation.
iii. = 6.15 mm/s
7. The angular velocity of the lead screw = References
2πN/60 1.Anthony Esposito (2011) ‘Fluid Power with
i. = 2π (30)/60 Applications’, 6th Edition, Pearson Education
ii. = 3.14 radian/s Inc.
2.Er.R.K.Rajput (2009) ‘Strength of Materials’,
8. Power of the lead screw, P = 3.6 W
2nd Edition, S. Chand & Company Limited.
9. Torque of the lead screw = P x 60/2πN = 3.Pneumatic cylinder and solenoid DCV from
3.6 x 60/2πN= 0.57 Nm product manual of Janatics ltd, Coimbatore,
Maximum withstanding capacity = torque/radius Tamilnadu.
of lead screw = 0.57 /9.5 x 10-3 4.Muhammad Ali Mazidi, Janice Gillispie
Maximum withstanding capacity = 60 N Mazidi, and
5.Rolin D. McKinlay (2008) ‘The 8051 Micro
Controller and Embedded Systems’, 2nd Edition,
5. Result and Discussion
Pearson Education Inc.
Graph shows the relationship between the force 6.Dr. H.D Ramchandra, Hydraulics &
v/s air pressures. When pneumatic cylinder Pnuematics, Sudha Publications, Bangalore,
diameter increases, force generated also Edition: 2005.
increases. From the graph it is observed that for
the larger increase in the force value only at
smaller air pressure.
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