VeggieClean Pics: vegetables Anchor the idea

VeggieClean Eric Toensmeier Nuestras Raices Pic: Eric and bucket Working on vegetable and our main contact is eric toiensmeir at nuestras reaices farm in holyoke. After talking with eric, the scope is to develop a washer that can spread to other similar sized farms. - What problem are we solving? - Scale of our problem (no longer important to do water power) - We have a real customer -- have made numerous contact (visits, phone interviews) Eric Toensmeier Nuestras Raices

VeggieClean Customer Contract Customer Need Product Attribute Engineering Spec Can handle crop yield Vegetable throughput > 100 ft3/hour Extra help not necessary Operability 1 user Used water can be dumped at no cost Daily water use < 500 gal No need for large capital investment Price < $4000 After talking with eric, we were able to indentfy key needs Current technoology is washing inside drum, and are looking to mechanise this process to double the throughput. First three do this. Eric mentinoed that or a device that could do this task, his farm would be able to afford $4,000 Need to maintain the technology they have right now Throughput Number of people it takes to operate More than 500 gallons of water, they will need a new way to manage it Price comes from customer contract

VeggieClean Key Risks Poorly washed vegetables Damaged vegetables - Low throughput Non-uniform vegetable flow These needs led us to identify several key risks. We addressd these risks by developing three key test modules.

VeggieClean Concepts: Sprayer In order to test the washing capability and flow rate, we tested diferent nozzle types and pressures. The outcome of this testing showed us that at higher pressures and flow rates, vegetables could be washed more quickly. Performance of this Model - Damaged vegetables - Low throughput Poorly washed vegetables Uncontrolled flow GPM: gallons/min at 40 psi

VeggieClean Concepts: Agitator Although initial tests not too successful, there were man Main factors: surface of bed, frequency, others, hard to optimize the process and decide. This module has helped us to identify these factors that would need to be considered. Need to figure out how these variables work together to succssfully transport

VeggieClean Concepts: Rotating Drum Describe the mechanism. Concept for transport, angled rotating drum to rol around inside and expose al sufaces. We developed this model to test whether vegetables would be damaged, the throughput capable, and to test how different vegetables behaved. So far pretty good results We were able to see that angle variation didn’t affect the throughput, but increased rotational speed increased throughput. - Damaged vegetables - Low throughput Poorly washed vegetables Uncontrolled flow

VeggieClean Conclusions Sprayers are effective at washing Variables with Agitator need to be worked out - Drum is a promising transportation mechanism Additional testing needed Sprayer Agitator Drum - good Testing - more volume Use customer and existing technology to guide us through the process