ANALYTICAL DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A POTATO SLICING MACHINE

Abstract

Potatoes represent one of the most important and widely consumed staple foods and Bangladesh is the seventh potato-producing country in the world with respect to cultivation area. Conventional potato processing has labor-intensive, time-consuming, and injury-prone steps like washing, peeling, and slicing. A portable potato slicer has been invented as a solution to these problems using geared motor and chain-driven mechanism to slice up potatoes. The system has three main components — feeding, transmission and slicing. Potatoes travel through the system on a belt and distribution apparatus, arriving at the knife support for cutting. The smoothness in the chain and the motor-driven ensures less manual interference. When major components were confirmed with solid works finite element analysis their design embodied durability as well as efficiency. It has a powerful 1200W motor, and users can choose the slice thickness by replacing the knife holder. Such unique design not only accelerates the processing speed but also reduces the labor inductiveness with safety which is preferential for large-scale food preparation setting.