Objective Aiming at the industrial bottleneck that the industrial peeling of small yellow ginger cannot balance high peel removal rate and low flesh damage rate due to its irregular shape, dense branches, thin and tender peel, a piece of peeling equipment based on three-dimensional turbulent flexible friction is developed.Methods Small yellow ginger is taken as the test material. With peel removal rate and flesh retention rate as evaluation indicators, single-factor and L₉(3⁴) orthogonal experiments are carried out to optimize three key parameters: processing time, material-water ratio, and stirring speed. Origin is used for data statistics and analysis.Results The influences of factors follow the trend of processing time>stirring speed>material-water ratio. The optimal parameters are determined as follows: processing for 6 min, a material-water ratio of 1∶2, and a stirring speed of 35 r/min. Under the above conditions, the peel removal rate, the flesh retention rate, and the processing capacity reach 98.12%, 95.86%, and 2.11 t/h, respectively. Compared with brush mechanical peeling and chemical alkali peeling, the proposed equipment and supporting process present the advantages of high peeling efficiency, low flesh damage, no chemical residue, and favorable environmental performance.Conclusion The coordination of equipment innovation and process optimization can realize efficient and low-damage industrial peeling of small yellow ginger and provide references and technical support for the green processing of irregular fruits and vegetables with thin peels.