This research study aims to design, construct and evaluate a peeling machine for cassava, which
includes a survey on the manufacture of peeled cassava chips and a study on basic characteristics of
cassava leading to the design and construction of a peeling machine for cassava and the testing of the
prototype, by varying the speed of blades, speed ofthe roller and cassava size.The following indicators
are used: net flesh ratio, peeling ratio, rate of cassava peeling(kg/h) and peeling efficiency(%). The
results are as follows:
1. The average cassava size is: 61 mm diameter, 238 mm length, conical-cylindrical shape
and 2.6 mm thickness of cassava skin.
2. The machine prototype consists of a frame, a blade unit, a roller for spinning the tubers,
a set of spoked conveyor for transporting the tubers to be fed to the blades, a receiver for
the peeled tubers and an electrical motor power source.
3. The evaluation of the machine performance indicates the following optimum conditions:
41-70 mm cassava tuber diameter, 120 mm length, 4.5 m/s linear speed of blades, 70
rpm speed of the roller, 0.22 m/s linear speed of spoke conveyor, net flesh ratio of
0.88, peeling ratio of 0.86, rate of cassavapeeling of 224 kg/h and peeling efficiency
of 75 %.
When comparing this method of peeling cassavaby machine with thatby the manual method,
the former offers a rate of cassava peeling 7 timeshigher than that of the latter. This has a good
potential to be developed to be used commercially.