Study of Mechanical Deformations on Tough Skinned Vegetables during Mechanical Peeling Process (A Review)

Abstract

Peeling is an essential phase of post harvesting
and processing industry; however undesirable processing losses
are unavoidable and always have been the main concern of food
processing sector. There are three methods of peeling fruits and
vegetables including mechanical, chemical and thermal,
depending on the class and type of fruit. By comparison, the
mechanical methods are the most preferred; mechanical peeling
methods do not create any harmful effects on the tissue and they
keep edible portions of produce fresh. The main disadvantage of
mechanical peeling is the rate of material loss and deformations.
Obviously reducing material losses and increasing the quality of
the process has a direct effect on the whole efficiency of food
processing industry, this needs more study on technological
aspects of these operations. In order to enhance the effectiveness
of food industrial practices it is essential to have a clear
understanding of material properties and behaviour of tissues
under industrial processes. This paper presents the scheme of
research that seeks to examine tissue damage of tough skinned
vegetables under mechanical peeling process by developing a
novel FE model of the process using explicit dynamic finite
element analysis approach. A computer model of mechanical
peeling process will be developed in this study to stimulate the
energy consumption and stress strain interactions of cutter and
tissue. The available Finite Element softwares and methods will
be applied to establish the model. Improving the knowledge of
interactions and involves variables in food operation particularly
in peeling process is the main objectives of the proposed study.
Understanding of these interrelationships will help researchers
and designer of food processing equipments to develop new and
more efficient technologies. Presented work intends to review
available literature and previous works has been done in this
area of research and identify current gap in modelling and
simulation of food processes