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Subject: Farm, Machinery and Power × Author: Apoorv Prakash × Type: Thesis × Thesis Type: Ph.D ×
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    Design, Development and Evaluation of Tractor Operated Tree Shaker for Fruit Crops
    (Punjab Agricultural University, 2023) Apoorv Prakash; Dixit, Anoop Kumar
    A hydraulically controlled tree shaker has been designed and developed which is capable of generating enough vibrations to shake any fruit tree for harvesting of fruits. It has provision of holding the trunk of tree at desired level up to a height of 2438 mm. The machine has three main assemblies viz., main frame, telescopic arm and vibration unit with grippers. A collecting basket was also developed to collect the fruits falling from the tree. The extended upper diameter of a fully opened basket is around 6706 mm. Type of fruit tree, material of shaking rod, stroke rate and type of collecting basket were selected as independent parameter for the study. The effect of independent parameters was observed on dependent parameters viz., magnitude of vibration (displacement and acceleration), tree damage assessment, fruit detachment efficiency, weight of harvested fruits, percentage distribution of mature, immature, and damaged fruits and harvesting rate, shaking time/tree and fuel consumption. The developed prototype was optimized and evaluated in actual field conditions for harvesting of Aonla and Jamun fruits at university orchards and at village Birmi of district Ludhiana (Punjab). In both type of fruit trees, stroke rate and material of gripping unit has significant effect on displacement at the place of gripping unit of machine and at different positions on the branch of the tree away from the gripping point. Similar trend has also been observed for acceleration, fruit detachment efficiency, weight of harvested fruits and mature fruits. Type of collecting basket has no significant effect on damage of fruits. Bark damage of the tree in case of EPE Foam on grippers was more as compared to rubber type material. During field evaluation good quality mature fruits, immature fruits and damaged fruits were 78.59%, 5.59% and 15.81% respectively for Aonla whereas it was 82.34%, 7.10% and 10.56% respectively for Jamun fruits. The overall fuel consumption recorded while harvesting Aonla and Jamun fruits from the tree is 5.6 and 6.06 l/h respectively. The overall saving in labour was 74-80% in Aonla and 75-81% in Jamun fruit harvesting as compared to manual fruit harvesting i.e., Control.