Development of a Fruits Harvesting Machine
Abstract: Orange and pomegranate are two of the most important types of fruit crops grown in Egypt. Conventional harvesting method is inefficient in terms of both economy and time. So, machine harvesting systems are a partial solution to overcome and reduce the cost. The aim of this investigation is to modify a harvesting portable machine and study the feasibility of using it for picking the navel orange and pomegranate fruits. The modified machine was evaluated using various operating factors such as cutting height of 2, 3 and 4 m , two cutting head types of machine (toothed disc and scissor) and disc speeds of 3.14, 3.66 and 4.19 m/s. the results were compared to traditional manual method at the same operating factors. The results concluded that using the modified fruit harvesting machine for picking navel orange and pomegranate fruits with toothed disc head at disc speed of 3.66 m/s with all cutting heights exhibited an enhancement in performance rate and fruits damage ratio and decreased the specific energy and operational cost. The obtained results at optimum conditions were machine performance rate of 24.33 and 20 fruit/min, fruits damage ratio 9.66 and 9.25%, specific energy of 6.45 and 7.58 kW h/Mg and operational cost of 85.74 and 100.71 L.E./Mg at cutting height of 3 m for navel orange and pomegranate fruits, respectively.
Publication year 2022
Pages 1-10
Organization Name
serial title Middle East Journal of Applied Sciences
Author(s) from ARC
Publication Type Journal
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