Frictional collision acceleration and damage of potato peel: an experimental study

Abstract

To obtain the acceleration characteristics of frictional collision between potato and rod, and reveal the mechanism of potato peel damage, a frictional collision test rig was designed to conduct single factor test and peel damage threshold test. Results showed that the maximum frictional collision acceleration (MFCA) decreased linearly with the increase of potato mass and increased linearly with the increase of initial height. The MFCA of potato colliding with the horizontal rod was smaller than that with the vertical rod, and the MFCA with the rolling rod was smaller than that with the fixed rod. The MFCA decreased in turn when potato was collided with 65Mn-rubber, 65Mn-plastic and 65Mn. The acceleration threshold of peel damage for 250 g potato was the smallest when it collided with 65Mn rod fixed in the horizontal direction from 50 mm height, which was 15.56 m/s2. The acceleration threshold was the largest for the collision with 65Mn-rubber rod fixed in the vertical direction, which was 113.6 m/s2. The research methods and conclusions of this article provided a basis for the analysis of potato peel damage mechanism, and also provided a reference method for researches on the peel damage of solid–like agricultural materials and food.