Synthesis State-of-the-Art

This part shows the similarities and differences of the current study to the previous

studies.

According to the study of (DR. Htay Htay Win, DR. Myint Thein, Mg Aunt Min Thaw,

2019). Potato is a major food crop, grown in more than 100 countries in the world. According to

the Food Association Organization (FAO), potatoes are consumed by more than one billion

people in the world. It is a high-quality vegetable cum food crop and used in preparing more

than 100 types of recipes. The protein content of potato has a higher biological value than

cereals and is considered to be better than milk. Hence, potato is supplementing meat and milk

products by lowering energy intake and also by reducing food cost. The design and production

of machinery as part of the technological development of a country requires the acquisition of

technology and development of capacity in three activities of design, fabrication, and

engineering research and development. Engineering development and testing of machinery and

equipment is a complement to any design and manufacturing process. It is through such testing

and subsequent development that operational problems of the machines produced locally can

be investigated and solved and the quality of the product maintained. Potato Slicing Machines

are simple and easy to use units for making potato chips. They are available in a wide range of

capacities and may operate to get the different forms of potato chips. But it wisely needs to use

specially engineered equipment such as designed blades. Main variations in quality are in

casing design, rotating blade material, belt or chain quality, and drive equipment. The main

purpose of potato slicing machine is to produce potato chips uniformly and quickly. The results

and fabrication of this research have shown the possibility of manufacturing a relatively cheap,

easy to use and reliable machine for slicing vegetables which reduces human effort. The

machine was safely operated, but it requires power for just the electric motor, thus the

production of fumes is entirely eliminated. The potato slices obtained can be used with slight
additions as potato chips after drying which is a value-added product and can be sold to obtain

more profits. This machine has a lot of scope for the future. The maximum efficiency of the

machine is 88%.

According to the study of (Dayana Paul, Rajesh Mohanan, Simi Poulose, Prince, M. V.

2007) Potato is one of the commercially important vegetables in India which is exploited in value

added form such as canned potato, potato chips, french fries etc. The main unit operation

during the value addition process is slicing. A prototype model of potato slicer was developed to

make the process easy and less time consuming. The developed potato slicer consists of a

feeding unit, a slicing mechanism, and a driving mechanism. The potatoes fed manually in to

the hopper, fall by gravity into the cylinder at the bottom dead centre of the piston. They are

pushed horizontally to the stationary blades as the piston moves towards the top dead centre

and thus sliced. The wooden bush on the piston helps in pushing all the slices out of blade

assembly. The machine can be used to slice potatoes with minimum percent damage (about

4.02%). The slicing efficiency of the machine is 95.93%. The average throughput capacity of the

machine at crank shaft handle speed of 24 rpm was found to be 121.42 kg/hr. The developed

slicer could produce slices and capacity six times higher than manually slicing.

According to the study of (Faiz, A. 2021). French fries are popular dishes in the world.

Raw French fries’ preparation requires several methods that is tedious and time-consuming if it

is done manually. The main intention of this project is to develop a semi-automatic machine that

is able to peel and cut potatoes to French fries. The project is focused on small and medium-

size potatoes, a portable and low fabrication cost machine, and targeted to small and medium

enterprise industries. To achieve the project aims, a semi-automatic machine is developed that

capable of peel and cut potato to French fries’ shape. The machine peeler uses an abrasive

technique and rotation in removing the potato skins while the cutter uses a rotating crank with

pusher connected to an electric motor to push potato to the cutting blade. The machine was
tested to its functionality and the outcome was compared to the manual methods. For the

comparisons, the machine capable of peeling up to 135% more potato weight and an average

time improvement to cut potato is up to 62%. This machine is capable of reducing manpower

effort in the preparation process and provides an improvement in production for small and

medium scale industries.

ENDNOTES:

Htay Htay Win, D., Myint Thein, D., Aunt, M., & Thaw, M. (n.d.). Design of Power Transmission

System and Dicer Blade of Potato Slicing Machine. Retrieved January 4, 2024, from

https://www.irejournals.com/formatedpaper/1701546.pdf

Paul, D. (2007). Development and evaluation of potato

slicer. http://14.139.181.140:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/73

Faiz, A. (2021). Semi-Automatic Potato Peeler and Cutter: An initial

development. https://publisher.uthm.edu.my/periodicals/index.php/mari/article/view/383