Development of engineering design tools to help reduce apple bruising

Abstract

A large percentage of apples are wasted each year due to damage such as bruising. The apple journey from orchard to supermarket is very complex and apples are subjected to a variety of static and dynamic loads that could result in this damage occurring.The main aim of this work was to carry out numerical modelling to develop a design tool that can be used to optimise the design of harvesting and sorting equipment and packaging media to reduce the likelihood of apple bruise formation resulting from impact loads. An experimental study, along with analytical calculations, varying apple drop heights and counterface material properties, were used to provide data to validate the numerical modelling.Good correlation was seen between the models and experiments and this approach combined with previous work on static modelling should provide a comprehensive design tool for reducing the likelihood of apple bruising occurring.

Deformation behaviour simulation of an apple under drop case by finite element method

“…During the transfer(s) from orchard to retailer, the potential drop heights of between 0.05 m and 1.2 m have previously been researched in the scientific literature related with drop tests of apples (Stropek and Golacki, 2007;Moaveni, 1991;Menesatti and Paglia, 2001;Holmes et al, 1998). Potential dynamic apple loading situations and associated drop heights are given in Table 2 (Lewis et al, 2007). Hence, a suitable assumption was created by considering potential drop heights from the scientific literature for the drop height in this finite element analysis (FEA).…”

Measurement of impact pressure and bruising of apple fruit using pressure-sensitive film technique

“…Bruise was measured as the procedure introduced by Lewis et al (2007). Apples were left for 24 h after dropping, for full development of bruises.…”

“…The bruise prediction models may be applied by either impact energy (Studman et al, 1997;Lewis et al, 2007;Jarimopas et al, 2007) or peak contact force (Chen and Yazdani, 1991;Bajema and Hyde, 1998;Van Zeebroeck et al, 2007a;Lewis et al, 2008). The bruise prediction model including the impact energy demands a lot of experimental work.…”

“…Rabelo et al (2001) measured the contact area of rubber spheres and oranges compressed against rigid, flat plates laid in parallel, by using a measuring system including a transducer board on which some micro-switches were disposed in linear, radial directions, an interface device, and a microcomputer. Lewis et al (2007) developed analytical and numerical tools to predict bruise sizes for a given drop height against a given counterface material by dynamic finite element (FE) modeling in which a laser scan of an apple was created. Lewis et al (2008) used a novel ultrasonic technique to study apple contact areas and stresses under static loading; the results were then used to validate the output from a finite element (FE) model of an apple.…”

Transportation, handling, and microbial growth performance of molded fiber and expanded polystyrene apple trays

“…The apples were inspected 24 hours after the completion of testing because prior work suggests that any bruise that was going to form from damage would be fully visible within 24 hours. 23 During pretest-inspection, any bruising that was found was recorded, but apples with virtually no bruising were moved into the dummy apple locations as seen in Figure 1. Each case sampled was packed with new trays and pre-inspected apples.…”