TEST AND STUDY THE WORK EFFICIENCY OF LOCALLY MANUFACTURED PALM SERVICE EQUIPMENT

A hydraulic platform was manufactured to serve palm trees and to enhance palm tree services, with a height of 12 meters, by the General Company for Hydraulic Industries, one of the Ministry of Industry's formations. This platform was tested in the field after being manufactured according to a randomized complete block design using split-split plots with three factors. The first factor represented the shape of the orchard land, with two levels (flat land and uneven land), serving as the main plots. The second factor had three levels representing palm tree heights (4, 8, and 12 meters), which served as the sub-plots. The third factor was the palm tree services, represented at three levels (pruning, pollination, and harvesting), with each treatment repeated three times. The measured characteristics of the platform test in the field included the costs, the power needed to operate the platform, and the force required to lift the palm platform. The effect of land nature on cost differed significantly at the 0.05 significance level. The costs amounted to 1,330.93 and 1,698.44 dinars per date palm for flat and uneven land, respectively. The effect of palm height on costs also differed significantly, with costs of 1,200.11, 1,510.28, and 1,833.67 dinars per palm for heights of 4, 8, and 12 meters, respectively. The power needed to operate the engine, which drives the pump to lift the hydraulic cylinders and the platform, was 1.44 kW. The force required to lift the platform and the scissors was 9,425.3 Newtons. There were no significant differences in the effect of the three factors in their single, double, and triple interactions regarding power and strength. It can be recommended to use the platform for operations on both flat and uneven lands at different heights and for various service operations with multiple palm trees.