1. VeggieClean
Pics: vegetables
Anchor the idea

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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