Description of the FUAS onion peeling machine
A) Bunker with feeding system
The feeding system transports the onions one by one into the holes of the machine indexing plates. Pre-grading of the onions is used to optimize the filling rate of the feeding system and the peeling results.
B) Transporting chains with indexing plates
The onions are brougt onto indexing plates which transport the onions through the machine. We handle the product vertical instead of horizontal and thus are very flexible towards the shape of different varieties of onions, even most flat varieties cause no problems.
The tranporting chain has a adjustable start-stop sequence. We control the start and the stop through our PLC in combination with a frequency converter. It is not a standard start-stop but a smooth movement. We have taken a special strong, over-sized chain for this job, so the chains on our machine last very long.
C) Orientating section
For an optimized peeling result it is nessecary that the onions are orientated top/tail in the vertical direction. To do this, one or two operators (depending on the size of the machine) are orienting the onions. Because they can oversee an area of several indexing plates with onions it is easy to keep up with the speed of the machine. The average speed of the machine is about 25 cycles per minute.
D) Notching section
The notching section is the first unit inside the, for safety reasons, closed processing part. At first the onion is clamped between an upper and a lower holder (1), the onion is pushed through the circular knives, up (2) and down again (3). In fact the onion in notched twice! The notching knives have special mechanics with springs, hardened axles and bearings to adapt the notching to the shape of the onions. It’s possible to adjust the depth of the notching to the different onions or different circumstances through the peelingseason.
E) Onion topping- and tailing section
The topping and tailing sections are fully independent from each other. For each onion there is a static sensor to set the size of the cutted top or tail. Thus the percentage of waste can be managed and the peeling result can be optimized.
F) The peeling section
The onions are pre-processed to be peeled. They are clamped between rotating axles and the brown skin is blown off with a minimum of compressed air. The peeled onions are seperated from the skin and are transported onto a separating unit.
G) Separating the waste
It happens that not all the skin has been completely blown away. A roller separating unit seperates the last skin/waste from the onions.
H) Control box
All items in the line are controlled by the central control box, which is connected to the platform.
The photo below shows an onion peeling machine feeding onto a roller separator and inspection table. This sytem also includes an optional re-peel system.
