Two prototypes of small chili pepper harvesters that attach to walking cultivators were designed and manufactured before field performance tests were conducted. The two prototypes were designed and manufactured with different main frame materials, forms of divider, picking guides, and helix rotation speeds. The maximum helix speed of the first prototype was 500 rpm, and the helix rotation speeds of the second prototype were a minimum of 510 rpm and a maximum of 730 rpm. Field performance tests were conducted on two species of chili, the AR Legend and the Jeokyoung, to determine which was suitable for mechanization. The Jeokyoung species was found to be most suitable for mechanization as its harvest efficiency was higher and its pepper left on plant rate and ground fall loss rate were lower than AR Legend's. When the first and second prototypes were compared at helix rotation speeds of 500 to 510 rpm, in the case of the AR Legend, the average harvest efficiency of the second prototype was higher than the first prototype by 2.2%, the average pepper left on plant rate was lower by 2.1%, and the average ground fall loss rate was lower by 3.9%. In the case of the Jeokyoung, the performance of the second prototype was further improved over the first prototype as the average harvest efficiency increased to 5.2%, and the difference in average ground fall loss rate increased to 8.8%.
Purpose: Pepper prices have risen continuously because of a decrease in cultivation area; therefore, mechanical harvesting systems for peppers should be developed to reduce cost, time, and labor during harvest. In this study, a screw type picking head for a self-propelled pepper harvester was developed, and the optimal working conditions were evaluated considering helix types, winding directions of helix, and rotational speeds of the helix. Methods: The screw type was selected for the picking head after analyzing previous studies, and the device consisted of helices and a feed chain mechanism for conveying pepper branches. A double helix and a triple helix were manufactured, and rotational speeds of 200, 300, and 400 rpm were tested. The device was controlled by a variable speed (VS) motor and an inverter. Both the forward and reverse directions were tested for the winding and rotating directions of the helix. An experiment crop (cultivar: Longgreenmat) was cultivated in a plastic greenhouse. The test results were analyzed using the SAS program with ANOVA to examine the relationship between each factor and the performance of the picking head. Results: The results of the double and triple helix tests in the reverse direction showed gross harvest efficiency levels of 60-95%, mechanical damage rates of 8-20%, and net marketable portion rates of 50-80%. The dividing ratio was highest at a rotational speed of 400 rpm. Gross harvest efficiency was influenced by the types of helix and rotational speed. Net marketable portion was influenced by rotational speed but not influenced by the type of helix. Mechanical damage was not influenced by the type of helix or rotational speed. Conclusions: Best gross harvest efficiency was obtained at a rotational speed of 400 rpm; however, operating the device at that speed resulted in vibration, which should be reduced.
Purpose: This study was conducted to understand the work performance of crank-type rotavators and compare them with those of rotary-type rotavators in Korean farmland conditions. Methods: Tillage operations were carried out using both rotavators with the same nominal rotavating width and rated power. During the operations, PTO speed and torque, actual work speed, and rotavating width and depth were measured. To evaluate work performance, pulverizing ratio, inversion ratio, and specific volumetric tilled soil were calculated and compared for each rotavator. Results: It is found that the crank-type rotavator has better specific volumetric tilled soil performance and deep tillage, while the pulverizing ratio is worse. Conclusions: Crank-type and rotary type rotavator have diffenent properties each other in several work performances. It's important, therefore, to choose a suitable type of rotavator that satisfy the farmer's requirements in accordance with the condition of field and the purpose of tillage operation.
For harvest automation of sweet pepper, image recognition algorithms for differentiating each part of a sweet pepper plant were developed and performances of these algorithms were compared. An imaging system consisting of two cameras and six halogen lamps was built for sweet pepper image acquisition. For image analysis using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), a band-pass filter in the range of 435 to 950 nm with a broad spectrum from visible light to infrared was used. K-means clustering and morphological skeletonization were used to classify sweet pepper parts to which the NDVI was applied. Scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) and speeded-up robust features (SURFs) were used to figure out local features. Classification performances of a support vector machine (SVM) using the radial basis function kernel and backpropagation (BP) algorithm were compared to classify local SURFs of fruits, nodes, leaves, and suckers. Accuracies of the BP algorithm and the SVM for classifying local features were 95.96 and 63.75%, respectively. When the BP algorithm was used for classification of plant parts, the recognition success rate was 94.44% for fruits, 84.73% for nodes, 69.97% for leaves, and 84.34% for suckers. When CNN was used for classifying plant parts, the recognition success rate was 99.50% for fruits, 87.75% for nodes, 90.50% for leaves, and 87.25% for suckers.
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