A Developed Machine to Harvest Carrot Crop

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to develop a rationalized power consumption carrot harvesting machine to be suitable for the Egyptian agricultural conditions. The developing machine components are namely: pulling unit, transmission system and frame. The present study consider that:-(1) Some physical and mechanical properties of foliage and root (dimensions, mass, pulling force, and tension force) and some soil properties. (2) Manufacturing the proposed harvester by relating dimensions design to the theoretical considerations. (3) Evaluating the mechanical of the developed harvester as affected by different design parameters. The machine forward speed 0.3 m/s. It was evaluated under operating parameters: pulling inclination angle, pulling belt speed and the height of branch catch. Meanwhile, the machine performance can be determined from crop quality, lifting efficiency and root damage. The obtained results concluded that the optimum parameters of the carrot harvesting machine were belt speed 0.5, belt inclination angle 45, Height of branch catch 5 cm can be used to obtain the best root quality, root damage and lifting efficiency were 99.5, 0.5 and 86.46 % respectively.