RANCANG BANGUN DAN EVALUASI KINERJA MESIN PENGUPAS KULIT BUAH AREN TIPE BERTINGKAT

Abstract

Sugar palm fruit (Arenga pinnata Merr.) is a plantation commodity with high economic potential as the raw material for producing kolang-kaling (sugar palm fruit sweetmeat). However, the fruit peeling process in home-scale industries is still carried out manually, which is time-consuming, results in low production capacity, and poses a risk of occupational accidents. This study aimed to design, fabricate, test the performance of, and analyze the economic feasibility of a multi-stage type sugar palm fruit peeling machine as an alternative form of mechanization for small-scale kolang-kaling processing. The research was conducted through the stages of needs identification, design using an engineering approach, prototype fabrication, functional testing, performance testing, and economic analysis. The observed parameters included effective capacity, the percentage of peeled fruit, unpeeled fruit, and broken fruit, as well as the machine's operational costs. The results showed that the machine had dimensions of 100.69 cm × 56.89 cm × 147.61 cm and was powered by a 3.5 HP gasoline engine. The effective capacity of the machine reached 34.5 kg/hour, with an average of 0.052 kg of unpeeled fruit and 0.085 kg of broken fruit per test. The economic analysis showed a fixed cost of IDR 1,943,760/year, a variable cost of IDR 25,829.44/hour, a basic peeling cost of IDR 772.15/kg, and a break-even point (BEP) of 457.21 kg/year. These results indicate that the multi-stage type sugar palm fruit peeling machine is able to improve the efficiency of the peeling process compared to the manual method and is feasible for application in small-scale kolang-kaling processing industries.