Modelling the Shock Behaviour of Potatoes

Abstract

In the Federal Republic of Germany, approximately 9 million tonnes of potatoes are harvested every year. On its way between the harvest and consumption, the potato passes through a long transport chain and se- veral processing steps. The most prominent feature of this process is that the potato sustains mechanical shocks. Even though shocks are always damaging to the tissue of the potato, they must be accepted as part of some procedures such as sorting or mechanical peeling in order to reali- ze functional principles. However, the current state of the art also en- ables and requires processes to be considered under the aspect of gentle potato treatment. Given these considerations, the simulation of the shock behaviour plays a central role. Studies on mechanical peeling with a spatially swinging plane peeler provide a calculation approach for the simulation of the shock behaviour of potato tubers.