A study of a newly-developed apple harvester and the associated properties of red delicious apples

Hao, Nguyen Van

Abstract

Red Delicious apple trees are grown into a 'single-tier canopy' form. An experimental machine was developed and tested to verify the ideas of using vertical shock loading to remove apples from the canopy. The machine was pneumatically powered, and 1½ inch bore air cylinders were used to produce the shock on top of the canopy. The associated properties of Red Delicious trees, 5 and 8 years of age, were obtained to assist in verifying the mathematical analyses. Removal of apples by horizontal shaking was considered feasible. The mathematical analysis, verified by field tests, suggested the best shaking frequency and force required.

Keywords

apple harvester; red delicious; apples; single-tier canopy; mathematical analyses; apple growing systems; harvester design; mathematical models; computer simulation; mechanical fruit harvesting

Fields of Research

070103 Agricultural Production Systems Simulation; 070105 Agricultural Systems Analysis and Modelling; 099901 Agricultural Engineering

Date

1974

Type

Thesis

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