Design of pneumatic automatic core removal and slicing device and mechanical characteristics test for crab‐apple

Abstract The current crab‐apple core removal and slicing equipment is mostly pure mechanical equipment, and there are problems such as high failure rate, low core removal rate and slice integrity rate, and so on. In order to solve these problems and improve the low mechanization level in the processing of the crab‐apple products, based on the study of mechanical characteristics of crab‐apple, an automatic crab‐apple core removal and slicing equipment was designed, which is driven by pneumatic system. Through drying, compression and shear test, the average moisture content of the crab‐apple was determined to be 84.57%. And the test results showed that, in the axial direction, the average compressive strength was 0.4137 MPa, and the shear strength was 0.05023 MPa. In the radial direction, the average compressive strength was 0.4462 MPa, and the shear strength was 0.05114 MPa, with anisotropy. The effects of different cutting wedge angle on the force on pulp were studied, and the relevant control system designed. Through the site test of authoritative institutions, the equipment has achieved 98.7% of complete core removal rate and 95.8% of complete ring‐shaped fruit slices rate, and the output has reached 750 kg/h, increasing productivity by more than 10% with low failure rate, and also provides an important reference for the research and development of core removal equipment of other multi‐core fruits. Crab‐apple fruit slices processing enterprises mostly use manual or semi‐automatic equipment for the crab‐apple removal, which restricts development of local crab‐apple processing industry chain. The study has designed an automatic crab‐apple removal and slicing equipment based on the study of physical characters of crab‐apple and analysis of different cutting wedge surface. The experimental results of crab‐apple physical characters show that the crab‐apple pulp is anisotropic. The site test results show that the equipment significantly improves the level of automation. And the core removal method also provide reference for other multi‐core fruits.