8th IEEE International Conference Humanoid, Nanotechnology, Information Technology Communication and Control, Environment and Management (HNICEM) The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. (IEEE) – Philippine Section 9-12 December 2015 Water Front Hotel, Cebu, Philippines 978-1-5090-0360-0/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE Design, Fabrication and Testing of a Semi-auto Green Mango Peeling Machine Reuben Donado Gokongwei College of Engineering, De La Salle University 2401 Taft Ave., Manila, Philippines Lyern Hensed Tan Gokongwei College of Engineering, De La Salle University 2401 Taft Ave., Manila, Philippines Don Martin Fernandez Gokongwei College of Engineering, De La Salle University 2401 Taft Ave., Manila, Philippines Edwin J. Calilung Gokongwei College of Engineering, De La Salle University 2401 Taft Ave., Manila, Philippines Daniel Abraham Francia Gokongwei College of Engineering, De La Salle University 2401 Taft Ave., Manila, Philippines Elmer P. Dadios Gokongwei College of Engineering, De La Salle University 2401 Taft Ave., Manila, Philippines Abstract – The Philippine mango particularly the “Carabao” variety is a very important local and export fruit crop in the Philippines. Mangoes are typically sold as fresh fruit or processed. Mango processing will invariably include peeling process which is typically done manually. This study involves an initial effort to design, fabricate and test a semi-auto green mango peeling machine. Pre-sorted fruit are placed manually one at a time to the feeder mechanism which is fed to the peeling section where the fruit is clamp prior to peeling process. Pivoting peeling blades mounted on a rotating ring engage and peel the mango longitudinally along the long axis of the mango fruit. Before the next blade engages the fruit it is rotated in its longitudinal axis so that the peeling blade peels the next unpeeled section. This is repeated until the fruit is completely peeled. Results were promising with at least 75% of the mango skin peeled, however, significant improvements and modifications are required to improve quality of peeling and increase the percentage peeled area. Keywords – mango peeling, peeling automation, fruit peeling mechanism, rotary fruit peeling I. INTRODUCTION The Philippines is home to one of the world’s sought- after fruit – the mango. Being such, its production ranks 7th in the world [1]. Amongst its produce, the Philippines’ most notable mango variety according to the Philippine National Standard is the “carabao” and the “pico” [2]. As one of the major mango producers in the world, the Philippines not only sells fresh fruits, but also boasts of its processed products such as dried mangoes, pickled mangoes, jams, and other similar products. According to the State of the Sector Report on Philippine Processed Mango by the Canadian International Development Agency [3] in 2004, mangoes were already processed commercially as early as the 1970’s [3]. At present, the majority of mango processors are still listed as small and medium enterprises (SMEs) [4]. As a consequence, they have limited technology and capital for expansion. With the year-round production of mangoes in the Philippines as well as the increase in demand for mangoes in the country, there is an urgent need to mechanize mango processing particularly mango peeling. There are definite opportunities to improve existing technology, reduce costs, increase quality, speed, and sanitation. In March 31, 2013, the Business Mirror reported that the Philippines is targeting to increase mango production by 24.5 per cent year-on-year to 955,823 metric tons (MT) in 2013, from 767,851 MT produced last year, via the roll out of various programs aimed at increasing output. According to the news article, the Department of Agriculture (DA) seeks to annually increase output by 5 per cent next year. The goal is 1.1 million metric tons of mangoes by 2016 [6]. Figure 1 shows that majority of Philippine mango exports are processed either in puree form or dried consisting of a total of 86.1%. In both this processes mango peeling is required.