Desenvolvimento de máquina descascadora de pinhão

The pine nut production chain involves the harvesting, peeling, industrialization and commercialization. One of the bottlenecks pointed by producers is the lack of an equipment capable of peeling the product, which would increase the work capacity of the activity. The peeling the seed is a difficult and time-consuming process, requiring intense labor use. The main objective of this research is to develop a pine nut peeling machine. It was based on a methodology focused on industrial products' development and was composed by different stages: project planning; informational project; conceptual project; preliminary project; and detailed project. The systematic application adopted has allowed effectiveness in the project's development and in the prototype's construction. The pine nut peeling machine that had 3 cm diameter straight grooved cylinders offered the best performance having a handling capacity of 24.6 kg h -1 and an efficiency of 61%. The best speed obtained was 0,0157 m s -1 , considered adequate to the conditions of use of the family producers of Serra Catarinense.