1

KONGU ENGINEERING COLLEGE PERUNDURAI

ERODE-638060

DEPARTMENT OF MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING

DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF

SEMIAUTOMATIC ONION PEELING AND
CUTTING MACHINE
PROJECT MEMBERS
S. Sathishkumar - 16MTR093
A. Sakthivel - 16MTL134
S. Thenralarasu - 16MTL139
Department of Mechatronics
Engineering
School of Building and Mechanical
Sciences
Kongu Engineering College
Perundurai,Erode-638 060.
PROJECT GUIDE
Dr. P. Ravichandran ME.,PhD.,
Associate Professor
Department of Mechatronics
Engineering
School of Building and Mechanical
Sciences
Kongu Engineering College
Perundurai,Erode-638 060.

7/29/22
2
INTRODUCTION
Onion is one of the majorly used vegetables in food.
 It is used after the skin is peeled and sliced into pieces.
 Onion peeling and cutting is one of the time consuming job for preparation of
food.
 It is everyday activity in all houses, hotels, hostels and restaurants.

7/29/22
3
MOTIVATION OF THE PROJECT
 Nowadays, automating machines are introduced in food processing industry.
 Manual cutting and peeling of onion takes much time.
 Problem been identified from hostel mess.

OBJECTIVE
 To design and fabricate the onion peeling machine for large
scale food processing industries.
 To reduce the time for workers.
 Integrate the both mechanism together to reduce the movement
of men and material.

7/29/22
4

FEASIBILITY STUDY
PROFITABLITY OF
THE SYSTEM?

It gives around 30%

- 50% profit

WHERE THIS CAN • ECONOMICALLY

BE INCORPORATED?
FEASIBLE
FOOD IS IT EASY TO
PROCESSING • TECHNICALLY IDEALIZE WITH
INDUSTRIES… ENGINEERING
FEASIBLE
TECHNIQUES?
IS SKILLED LABOUR • OPERATIONALL
REQUIRED?
Y FEASIBLE YES…
NO

7/29/22
5

METHODOLOGY

 Integrating both onion peeling and cutting parts together

to have a process flow.
 This reduces manual cost and the preparation time.
 Circular drum with rough punched sheet covered inside
the drum for peeling the onion.
 The circular plate with three blades fixed 120֯ apart is
used to cut the onion.
 The removed onion skin is collected separately by pipe
from bottom of the drum for using it as a fertilizer.

7/29/22
 CONCEPTUAL MAPPING

Onion
Feeding

Onion cutter Onion Peeler

Onion Collector

Motor
7
FUNCTIONAL BLOCK DIAGRAM

PEELED ONION
ONION IS SLICED
IS PASSED BY
ONION FEEDING IN THE CUTTER
PATHWAY TO
GRID
CUTTER HOPPER

PEELED SKIN IS
WATER SPRAYED SLICED ONION IS
SEPARATELY
INTO DRUM COLLECTED
COLLECTED

ONION IS
MOTOR ON PEELED IN THE
DRUM
8
CALCULATION
MOTOR SPECIFICATION
Speed 1350rpm
Shaft diameter 20mm
Torque Calculation-Disc
supply 220V single
 
phase supply
 Mass of the Plate =0.03 Kg
 Mass of the Shaft =0.05 Kg Torque 0.9725 N-m
 Mass of the Onion =2.0 Kg 0.25 hp
 Acceleration due gravity = 9.81 m/s2
 Force = Mass x Acceleration due gravity
=2.08 x 9.81
=20.4048 N
 Torque = Force x Distance
=20.4048 x 0.019
=0.3876 N-m
 Hence the torque needed to peel 2 kg of onion is 0.3876 N-m
7/29/22
9
CALCULATION
 Torque Calculation-Cutter Blade 
 Mass of the blades =3 x 0.01 = 0.030 Kg
 Mass of the Plate =0.030 Kg
 Mass of the shaft =0.050 Kg
 Mass of the onion =0.1 Kg
 Acceleration due gravity = 9.81 m/s2
 Acceleration due gravity = 9.81 m/s2
 Force = Mass x Acceleration due gravity
=0.21 x 9.81
=2.0601 N
 Torque = Force x Distance
=2.0601 x 0.015
=0.0309 N-m
 Hence the torque required for Cutting onion is 0.0309 N-m

7/29/22
9
CALCULATION
Total Torque Required
 Total torque required =Torque required for peeling +
Torque required for cutting
=0.3876 + 0.0309
=0.4185 N-m
 Hence the total torque required for whole process is 0.4185 N-m
Torque Delivered by the Motor
 Horse power = (Torque x RPM)/5252
 Therefore, Torque = (Horse power x 5252)/RPM
= (0.25 x 5252)/1350
=0.9725 N-m
 Hence the torque developed by the motor is 0.9725 N-m
 Hence the torque delivered by the motor is more than the torque
required and the selected motor is compatible for running the setup.

7/29/22
10

COMPONENTS
S.NO Materials Specifications

1. 1 Phase Grinder Motor 1350 rpm,0.25 hp

2. Submersible Pump 1ph, 0.023 hp

3. Ball Bearings 5 mm (dia)

4. Mild Steel Drum 40mm (dia)

5. Mild Steel Flat Plate 36mm (dia)

6. Steel frames -

7. Other Miscellaneous Mechanical Components -

(Nuts, Bolts, Wires etc.,)

7/29/22
11

2 D SKETCH& 3D SOLIDWORKS
MODEL

7/29/22
12

FABRICATION SETUP

7/29/22
15
COST ANALYSIS

S.No List of items Rate

1 Steel frames 800

2 Punched rough sheet (1m) 300

3 Steel plate (17 kg) 1200

4 Ac motor (0.25hp) 2000

5 Belt drive and pulley 400

6 Mini submersible pump 800

7 Bearing(3 no) 150

8 Small Cutter blade (4 no) 80

9 Miscellaneous 200

TOTAL 5,930

7/29/22
16
CONCLUSION
 The prototype model is to cut and peel the onion as a flow process.
 The cutting part gives an accuracy of 75% and the peeling part gives
an accuracy of 90-95% .
 This prototype cost Rs.6,000 as per the calculation.

FUTURE SCOPE
 Improving the process flow of onion from peeling drum to hopper by
automatically. With a use of servo motor, the outlet of peeling drum is
automated.
 Introducing feeding hopper which feed the onion batch by batch to the
cylindrical drum.
 Fabricating smart blades for different shapes and using it to the
required output.
 Upgrading the model to the multipurpose peeling to peel the garlic and
7/29/22
potato.
17

REFERENCE

 Balavignesh.J and Karthikeyan.S (2016) ‘ Automatic French fries making

machine’ , International conference on control instrumentation,
communication and computational technology
 Reuben Donado and Don Martin Fernandez (2015) ‘Design and Fabrication
and Testing of a Semi-automatic Green Mango Peeling Machine’ 8th IEEE
International Conference Humanoid, Nanotechnology
 Louis P. Lazzarini (1974) ‘Peeling machine and method’ , United States
Patent, Appl. No.: 188,240
 James A. Berube (1988) ‘Fruit peeling machine’ , Patent Number: 4,738,195,
Appl. No.: 15,686
 . El-Ghobashy and Adel H. Bahnasawy (2012) ‘Development and evaluation
of onion peeling machine’ Research gate , Misr J. Ag. Eng., 29 (2): 663 –
682.

7/29/22
18

7/29/22