Design, Development, and Evaluation of a Single-Stage Combined Chestnut Harvesting and Material Separation Concept
2013
De Kleine, Mark E. | Guyer, Daniel E.
A harvesting technique applicable for small chestnut orchards was designed and tested. The originality of the technique was a single-stage vacuum and separation process. A harvesting system was designed with inline airflow obstructions and manipulations that facilitate single-stage separation of chestnuts from orchard debris. The inline airflow modifications influenced the chestnuts’ momentum and provided an alternative pathway from the moving air flow. The chestnuts were sorted into a deposit chamber while debris and waste were discharged to the environment. Tests were made to determine chestnut harvesting performance as affected by the proportion of chestnuts to debris and the feed rate of material into the system. The validation of the harvesting process was characterized by chestnut loss and debris separation efficiency. The quantity of chestnuts and the feed rate interaction significantly affected the harvesting performance parameters. Overall chestnut loss was minimized when a large number of chestnuts entered the system, averaging 5%. Chestnut losses were as low as 1.3% while the separation efficiency was as high as 80%.
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