Document Type : Research paper
Authors
- Yanbin Hua 1
- Jiangang Yang 1
- Xin-Gen Zhou 2
- Chew Tin Lee 3
- Nairu Zhang 1
- Zhongquan Bai 1
- Xin Yuan 1
- Hongbo Zhao 1
- Lichun Quan 1
1 Fruit Industry Service Center of Fufeng County, Fufeng 722299, Shaanxi, P.R. China
2 Texas A&M AgriLife Research Center, Texas A&M University System, 1509 Aggie Drive, Beaumont, TX 77713, USA
3 Faculty of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
Abstract
At present, the fruit picking in most countries still largely relies on manual operation. Manual fruit picking can protect the fruits from damage during the operation process. However, it is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and poses a potential safety risk to the workers while working at heights not reachable. Therefore, a variety of fruit picking machines and platforms have been developed and incorporated into fruit production to improve the fruit picking efficiency. However, they are very costly in manufacturing and frequently cause damages to fruit during the fruit picking process. Recently various relatively simple mechanical fruit picking devices have been designed and developed as an alternative for these automatic fruit-picking systems to reduce the manufacturing costs. These devices have been used in fruit production. However, they still have some shortcomings such as poor portability and complex operation. They also lack mechanisms sufficient to avoid damages to fruit to ensure fruit appearance and quality.This study was to invent a portable and convenient mechanical tool that could be used in combination with manual operation for fruit picking. A portable scissors-type fruit picking device has been developed, which has two hinged levers designed to drive the closure of the shear blades at the top of fruit picking bowl to cut the fruit pedicel, achieving rapid and safe fruit picking. The portable scissors-type fruit picking device invented here is an innovation, with a purely mechanical design that has the advantages of ingenious design, simple structure, good portability, ease of operation, and low costs of use. This device is suitable for large-scale application in the field of fruit picking in many countries.
Keywords
)