Design and Fabrication Details of An Improved Mechanized Palm Fruit Harvester

Shadrack Mathew Uzoma^1, and Engr Eseonu Obi¹

¹Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Port Harcourt Port Harcourt, Rivers state

Cite this paper:
Shadrack Mathew Uzoma and Engr Eseonu Obi. Design and Fabrication Details of An Improved Mechanized Palm Fruit Harvester. American Journal of Mechanical Engineering. 2024; 12(2):19-25. doi: 10.12691/ajme-12-2-2

Abstract

The design and fabrication details of improved mechanized harvester was presented. The harvester was produced from locally sourced materials. The harvesting process is carried out by fast and continual rotary motion of a cutting mechanism; circular saw attached to a motor coil. The cutting mechanism is fixed to a long aluminum pole of about 15m. A 12V DC dry cell battery was connected to a 220V AC inverter which transmitted power to the cutting mechanism. To operate the harvester the operator handles both the inverter and battery in a backpack and extends the cutting mechanism to the crown of the palm tree. The cutter is placed at the base of the fresh bunch at an angle of 300 to 600. The cutting mechanism is agitated with the aid of switch button and causes the circular saw to rotate at 110 rpm. The machine was tested and performance efficiency of 159% was achieved.

Keywords:
palm fruit harvester locally sourced materials cutting mechanism inverter switch button and performance efficiency

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