High school students create semi-automatic durian shelling machine

Pham Anh Thu and Dang Hoang Dung of Dong Du Secondary and High School in Buon Ma Thuot City, Dak Lak Province, won the second prize last month for their machine at a national science and engineering competition organized by the Ministry of Education and Training.

Anh Thu and Hoang Dung at the 2024–2025 national science and engineering competition. Photo by VnExperss/Ngoc Oanh

Dak Lak in the Central Highlands is the country’s top durian growing province, with 38,800 hectares under cultivation and annual exports running into the hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars.

Thu and Dung’s families are involved in the trade, and the students saw first-hand the challenges of manually removing the fruit’s tough, spiky shell.

They began work on the machine in May 2024, and suffered multiple failures during early testing.

The main hurdle was designing a blade system sharp and precise enough to slice through the shell without damaging the soft flesh inside, and they experimented with four types of blades before finding the right one.

Built from steel, the machine uses an electric actuator, sensor relays and a control circuit, and has parts cut by laser.

Thu is especially proud of refining the blade design to safeguard the pulp.

 

 

High school students create semi-automatic durian shelling machine

Học sinh chế máy tách vỏ sầu riêng

Their science teacher, Le Minh Hien, said both are academically strong and participate often in innovation contests.

Thu has won several awards at the national and provincial levels.

Hien said their machine makes notable improvements over commercial shelling machines used in countries like Malaysia and Thailand.

While most current models rely on hydraulic systems, theirs uses an electromechanical actuator, making the machine more compact, easier to clean and simpler to maintain due to its modular components.

Unlike some machines that only apply downward force to crack the shell, their model combines pressure and a lever mechanism, making the process faster and requiring less effort. "Their invention shows creativity and scientific thinking," Hien added.